The UK government has unveiled plans for a new Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. Set for publication in spring 2026, this initiative seeks to align with the recent 10-Year Health Plan by shifting focus from hospitals to community settings.

Minister of State for Care Stephen Kinnock, the Labour MP for Aberafan Maesteg, announced the framework in the House of Commons on 24th November 2025. He emphasised that the government has already begun engaging with stakeholders to improve access, quality, and sustainability within the sector.

Demographic pressures and urgency

Kinnock highlighted the growing strain on the health system caused by an ageing population and a rise in complex conditions. Official projections show that the number of people aged 65 and over in England will increase from 8.1 million in 2025 to 11.2 million by 2065. This represents a shift from 19% of the population today to 26% in the future.

The Minister also addressed the critical needs of younger patients. Recent data from the National Child Mortality Database indicates that 54% of the 9,517 child deaths in England over a three-year period ending in 2025 involved life-limiting conditions. These include cancer, muscular dystrophy, and severe cerebral palsy. Prevalence rates for such conditions have risen from 26.7 per 10,000 in 2001/02 to 66.4 per 10,000 in 2017/18. Forecasts suggest this will reach between 67.0 and 84.2 per 10,000 by 2030.

Addressing systemic gaps

The government acknowledges significant hurdles in the current palliative care sector. Kinnock noted that the new framework will establish mechanisms to deliver improvements and promote evidence-based interventions. The plan focuses on the following key areas:

• Early identification: Reducing delays in identifying individuals approaching the end of life.
• Commissioning consistency: Addressing variations in practices across integrated care boards (ICBs).
• Workforce and support: Solving workforce challenges in universal and specialist services and plugging gaps in 24/7 palliative care provision.
• Care planning: Improving the uptake of personalised care and support planning, including advance care planning.
• Community integration: Delivering care closer to home through integrated generalist and specialist teams and strengthening out-of-hours community health support with dedicated telephone advice.

This prioritisation is referenced in NHS England’s Medium Term Planning Framework, which commits to reducing unnecessary non-elective admissions and bed days for high-priority cohorts.

Kinnock said: “We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life, and we recognise that access to high-quality, personalised palliative care and end of life care can make all the difference to patients and their loved ones.”

Sector reaction

Matthew Reed, chief executive of Marie Curie, welcomed the announcement as a vital and long overdue step.

“Promises now need to become action,” Reed said. “We stand ready to work with the government and the NHS to turn today’s commitments into real change. Too many people are dying in pain, frightened and without support, and too many families are left to cope alone in their darkest hours, with nowhere to turn. This must change.”

Reed added: “Marie Curie has long called for 24/7 access to palliative care in every community, personalised support from skilled professionals, and a system that joins up care, so no one has to repeat their story or falls through the cracks. We are already driving this shift by embedding our nurses in primary care networks, and supporting A&E teams to identify people at the end of life, helping them return to their preferred place of care. But much, much more needs to be done across the whole health and social care system to ensure that everyone can die with dignity.”

Wider health sector developments

The announcement comes alongside several other major updates in the health and care landscape:

• Integrated health organisations: On 24th November 2025, the NHS Confederation and legal experts Browne Jacobson published Towards Integrated Health Organisations: Considerations for Policy and NHS Leaders. The report recommends updating the NHS Oversight Framework for 2026/27 to incentivise collaboration. It calls for amendments to Section 44 of the National Health Service Act 2006 to redefine foundation trust income thresholds, which would enable the inclusion of social care and public health services in contracts.
• Waiting list validation: NHS England has expanded its waiting list cleaning drive. Following a £30 million fund injection that pays trusts £33 per validated case, the estimate for removable cases has doubled from 300,000 to 600,000 this year. While an NHS England clinical leader described the move as beneficial, concerns remain regarding transparency and potential wrongful removals.
• Nursing shortages: The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is urging the Chancellor to invest in the upcoming Budget to address low morale and 25,000 unfilled nursing posts. New survey data indicates that few nurses would recommend the career, citing heavy workloads and an inability to provide deserved care standards.
• Pathology crisis: Severe shortages of paediatric and perinatal pathologists have resulted in bereaved parents waiting six months or more for post-mortem results. The Telegraph reports zero growth in these services over five years. The Royal College of Pathologists is calling for investment in 37 new posts by 2030 and advanced training resources.
• Investment outlook: A report by former Number 10 health adviser Bill Morgan, with input from Julian Kelly and Jeremy Hunt, suggests prospects for NHS investment are rising. The report argues that including health investments in economic growth forecasts could persuade the Treasury by demonstrating a boost in workforce participation.
• Leadership appointment: Nnenna Osuji, currently chief executive at North Middlesex University Hospital, has been appointed chief executive of the North East London Integrated Care Board. She will be the only current ICB CEO from a minority ethnic background.