British medical bulletin article: resourcing of palliative and end of life care in the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic.

INTRODUCTION

Covid-19 led to a sustained increase in deaths in all four United Kingdom nations, placing strain on the UK's palliative and end-of-life care sector and raising concerns about the long-term sustainability of the sector's funding and resourcing model in the face of rising demand for these services in the coming decades.

SOURCES OF DATA

Published research, Marie Curie, King's College London Cicely Saunders Institute, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, University of Cambridge, National Statistics, PubMed, DOI.

AREAS OF AGREEMENT

Care for people at the end of their lives is a core part of the UK's health and care system with demand set to increase significantly as the UK's population ages.

AREAS OF CONTROVERSY

The UK's funding model for palliative and end-of-life care, with most care delivered by charitable sector providers and reliant on charitable donations, may be unsustainable in the face of increasing demand.

GROWING POINTS

The Covid-19 pandemic led to rapid service innovation in palliative and end-of-life care, and providers should assess which of and how these innovations can be retained after the pandemic.

AREAS TIMELY FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH

Although there has been a rapid growth in knowledge during Covid-19, gaps still remain including: the reasons underlying shifts to deaths at home and the implications for family carers; the education needs of the wider healthcare workforce in palliative care; the impact of specialist palliative care services on the wider health system, including hospital admissions and place of death; and inequalities in the experiences of dying, death and bereavement during Covid-19 among groups such as those from lower socioeconomic groups and BAME communities.