HSE to ensure timely and high-quality palliative care as close as possible to home for patients and families

In advance of Palliative Care Week 2025, which runs 7 to 13 September, the HSE has published the HSE National Palliative Care Policy Implementation Plan 2025-2026.

This plan will ensure that the tens of thousands of people who need palliative care annually will receive a timely and high-quality service at home or as close to home as possible. In 2024 specialist palliative care teams treated 17,239 patients in hospital, 4,395 patients in hospices and 15,253 patients in their own place of residence.

It sets out a detailed roadmap to implement the Department of Health’s 2024 National Adult Palliative Care Policy.  The plan was developed in partnership with statutory, voluntary and community stakeholders, and includes measures to strengthen public understanding of palliative care, develop new facilities, enhance the palliative care workforce, and deliver more palliative care education to health care professionals. 

Bernard Gloster, HSE CEO, said:

“This is a critical step toward building a more compassionate and person-centred health system. We are committed to ensuring that palliative care is not just available but is universally accessible and integrated into all levels of care. The impact of this work will be measured not only on what we will achieve, but in dignity upheld and lives made more comfortable. I sincerely thank all our partners across the voluntary and statutory sectors, our healthcare professionals, and the patients and families whose voices continue to guide us.”

Work is already underway by the HSE’s recently established National Adult Palliative Care Policy Implementation Group which will drive the delivery of the Implementation Plan and will provide quarterly progress reports to the Department of Health. The plan reflects the HSE’s ongoing transformation under Sláintecare, and its commitment to high-quality, equitable care for people at the most vulnerable stages of life.

Dr Feargal Twomey, HSE Clinical Lead for Palliative Care, said: 

"I very much welcome the publication the first Implementation Plan for the National Palliative Care Policy. I am grateful for the commitment of the palliative care and wider healthcare community in Ireland for their enthusiastic support of ensuring that the Policy’s recommended activities for 2025 and 2026 will be delivered upon. Thanks also to the Department of Health for having the foresight to include in the policy a clear requirement for the early development of this Implementation Plan.

“I invite the public, the patients we meet and their families, and all healthcare professionals to actively join and share in the work of recognising our patients’ palliative care needs at the earliest opportunity to ensure they can receive the right palliative care, in the right place, and at the right time for them. This is how the public and healthcare professionals will really see, understand, and be able to believe in the benefits of palliative care for all who need it.”

Will Higgins, member of Voices4Care, the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care’s volunteer group and member of the HSE’s National Adult Palliative Care Policy Implementation Group, said:

“The inclusion of patient voices in the development of policies impacting them is vital to the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute the lived experiences of people receiving palliative care to the development of the Implementation Plan that will enhance accessibility and quality of these essential care services. AIIHPC Voices4Care welcomes the publication of the Implementation Plan and looks forward to supporting its timely delivery.”