Palliative hope

Your headline and accompanying article of 26 June created the false impression that Scotland is lagging behind other countries in its provision of end of life care.

In a study just published by the british medical journal my team has shown beyond doubt that the provision of specialist palliative care in Scotland compares very favourably with that of our European neighbours.

Three forms of service delivery were examined: palliative care in-patient services in hospices and hospitals; support teams delivering specialist palliative care across hospital wards; and palliative home care teams. We found that Scotland, when compared with other countries in the EU, was in the top ten for each category of service.

Such specialist palliative care teams serve people with the most complex and challenging needs, and are centres of excellence for teaching, research and the exchange of knowledge.

They have a key role to play in the Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care, which aims, by 2021, to ensure that palliative care is available to all who can benefit from it.

That these forms of specialist palliative care are so well developed in the Scottish context is a matter of great encouragement and a platform on which to build further improvement. PROFESSOR DAVID CLARK OBE University of Glasgow End of Life

Studies Group