Marie Curie calls for reform of end of life care in Wales
Natasha Davies, senior policy manager at Marie Curie, said: "End-of-life care in Wales is at breaking point.
"Gaps in care and a system under severe pressure mean too many people are spending their final days isolated, in pain, and struggling to make ends meet.
"Services and staff are struggling to deliver the care people need, when and where they need it.
"There is an urgent need for change."
The charity estimates that the daily cost to the NHS in Wales of caring for people in their final year of life is around £1.3 million.
Marie Curie argues that many of these patients could be better supported at home or in community settings instead of hospital.
The charity's manifesto calls on the next Welsh Government to deliver high-quality, accessible end-of-life care for all.
It also urges policymakers to address gaps in care, support carers, and ensure that no one dies in poverty.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
3 hours ago
- The National
Risk of cancer death drops by 11.1 per cent to record low
Statistics published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) have shown an 11.1% reduction in mortality rates since 2013, from 333.7 per 100,000 diagnoses to 296.8 per 100,000 in 2022. The data, published on Tuesday, showed the death rates from the illness are the lowest on record since 1998. READ MORE: Chemical company fined £100k after worker suffers 'serious burns' Health Secretary Neil Gray said: 'It is encouraging to see the risk of dying from cancer in Scotland is at a record low. This is down to the hard work of NHS staff, improved treatment options, and people reporting their symptoms at an earlier stage. 'We are determined to further improve cancer survival, reduce waiting times and provide excellent, equitably accessible care right across Scotland.' Due to Scotland's ageing population, 69% of all cancer-related deaths recorded in 2022 were individuals aged 70 or older. 'We are taking action to improve the awareness and earlier diagnosis of cancers, including expanding our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services and our investment of more than £14 million towards cancer waiting times this year', Gray continued. 'Reducing health inequalities is a clear ambition for this government. Cutting smoking rates is key to tackling lung cancer incidence in areas of deprivation – our world-leading tobacco control measures are helping us in our goal of a Tobacco-Free Scotland by 2034.' MSP for Rutherglen Clare Haughey welcomed the figures, praising the work of NHS staff and action taken by the Scottish Government to improve both treatment options and early detection initiatives. 'One death from cancer is one too many but these figures are welcome and show the real progress we are making to improve cancer survival under the SNP Government', Haughey said. READ MORE: Ayrshire trust in race to raise £200k for community ownership of B-listed church 'The fact that the likelihood of dying from cancer is at its lowest level on record is testament to the incredible work that staff in our NHS do throughout Scotland every day. 'The SNP is determined to go even further to improve cancer survival across Scotland by taking action to improve awareness and earlier diagnosis of cancers. This includes expanding our Rapid Cancer Diagnostic Services and investing more than £14 million to reduce cancer waiting times this year. 'Whilst other parties continually talk down our NHS, the SNP is getting on with the job of improving and extending lives by investing to tackle health inequalities and improve health outcomes for people right across Scotland.'
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
People with heart problems to get treatment online as NHS given green light
Seven million people in the UK could be affected by the new draft guidance People suffering from cardiac conditions could soon access rehabilitation programmes from the comfort of their own homes following new draft guidance unveiled on August 19. Six digital platforms have received conditional recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence for deployment across the NHS, though the approach won't suit every patient. Activate Your Heart, D REACH-HF, Digital Heart Manual, Gro Health HeartBuddy, KiActiv and myHeart, are the approved platforms set to be used over a three-year period. They will be used while authorities compile data regarding their long-term effectiveness to tackle certain doubts surrounding the schemes. These digital rehabilitation services provide fitness regimens, nutritional guidance, learning resources, medicine oversight and mental health assistance. Certain platforms additionally feature wearable technology to track physical activity levels. Specialists claimed the schemes "offer real potential to transform" the delivery of this care category to individual patients. Approximately seven million Britons are thought to be impacted by cardiovascular illness covered by this fresh guidance, yet conventional rehabilitation schemes suffer from poor participation rates. During 2023, merely 41% of people with acute coronary syndrome, encompassing ailments such as heart attack and angina, took part in cardiac rehabilitation schemes across England. Just 13% of heart failure patients enrolled in the programmes during their recuperation. Rehabilitation for these conditions can slash the risk of additional heart troubles and hospital stays. Currently, these services are typically provided on the NHS through in-person consultations. Participation rates are notably poor amongst women, younger people, ethnic minorities, those in disadvantaged communities and others who find it difficult to attend face-to-face sessions. It's hoped that shifting this treatment online could boost the number of people getting involved. Dr Anastasia Chalkidou, healthtech programme director at Nice, said: "These digital platforms offer real potential to transform how cardiac rehabilitation is offered to people to meet their individual circumstances. "We know that traditional programmes aren't reaching everyone who could benefit - particularly women, younger patients and people from ethnic minority backgrounds. "The early data is promising and suggests, with safeguards in place, more people should now be given the opportunity to use these new technologies. "This three-year evidence collection period will give us the additional robust data we need to determine whether these innovations should be recommended as a permanent part of cardiac care." Nevertheless, NICE has acknowledged that the digital rehabilitation won't be appropriate for all patients. A qualified NHS healthcare professional will still be required to carry out a comprehensive clinical evaluation before recommending these platforms to individual patients. Following a three-year period of evidence collection, NICE will assess the data and make a decision on whether the technology can be regularly integrated into the NHS. A consultation on the conditional recommendation is currently in progress and will conclude on 3 September. NICE stated that seven other platforms – Beat Better, Datos Health, Get Ready, Luscii vitals, Pumping Marvellous Cardiac Rehab Platform, R Plus Health and Sword Move – require further research before they can receive NHS funding.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Britain's AI strategy: the risk is that it is dependency dressed up in digital hype
There was a time when Britain aspired to be a leader in technology. These days, it seems content to be a willing supplicant – handing over its data, infrastructure and public services to US tech giants in exchange for the promise of a few percentage points of efficiency gains. Worryingly, the artificial intelligence strategy of Sir Keir Starmer's government appears long on rhetoric, short on sovereignty and built on techno-utopian assumptions. Last week Peter Kyle, the technology secretary, was promoting the use of AI-generated discharge letters in the NHS. The tech, he said, will process complex conversations between doctors and patients, slashing paperwork and streamlining services. Ministers say that by applying AI across the public sector, the government can save £45bn. But step back and a more familiar pattern emerges. As Cecilia Rikap, a researcher at University College London, told the Politics Theory Other podcast, Britain risks becoming a satellite of the US tech industry – a nation whose public infrastructure serves primarily as a testing ground and data source for American AI models hosted on US-owned cloud computing networks. She warned that the UK should not become a site of 'extractivism', in which value – whether in the form of knowledge, labour or electricity – is supplied by Britain but monetised in the US. It's not just that the UK lacks a domestic cloud ecosystem. It's that the government's strategy does nothing to build one. The concern is that public data, much of it drawn from the NHS and local authorities, will be shovelled into models built and trained abroad. The value captured from that data – whether in the form of model refinement or product development – will accrue not to the British public, but to US shareholders. Even the promise of job creation appears shaky. Datacentres, the physical backbone of AI, are capital-intensive, energy-hungry, and each one employs only about 50 people. Meanwhile, Daron Acemoglu, the MIT economist and Nobel laureate, offers a still more sobering view: far from ushering in a golden age of labour augmentation, today's AI rollout is geared almost entirely toward labour displacement. Prof Acemoglu sees a fork: AI can empower workers – or replace them. Right now, it is doing the latter. Ministerial pledges of productivity gains may just mean fewer jobs – not better services. The deeper problem is one of imagination. A government serious about digital sovereignty might build a public cloud, fund open-source AI models and create institutions capable of steering technological development toward social ends. Instead, we are offered efficiency-by-outsourcing – an AI strategy where Britain provides the inputs and America reaps the returns. In a 2024 paper, Prof Acemoglu challenged Goldman Sachs' 10-year forecast that AI would lead to global growth of 7% – about $7tn – and estimated instead under $1tn in gains. Much of this would be captured by US big tech. There's nothing wrong with harnessing new technologies. But their deployment must not be structured in a way that entrenches dependency and hollows out public capacity. The Online Safety Act shows digital sovereignty can enforce national rules on global platforms, notably on porn sites. But current turmoil at the Alan Turing Institute suggests a deeper truth: the UK government is dazzled by American AI and has no clear plan of its own. Britain risks becoming not a tech pioneer, but a well-governed client state in someone else's digital empire. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
