King's College London

On 12 March 2024, Professor Katherine Sleeman and her team attended a reception at the House of Lords to discuss the development of plans for an Impact Centre for Palliative and End-of-Life Care at King’s with members of Parliament.

Every year, more than 100,000 people die in the UK with unmet palliative care needs. This figure is set to rise over the coming years. These discrepancies are exacerbated by widespread inequalities in palliative care; ethnicity, socioeconomic position and geography, alongside difficulty accessing research and information, contribute to the gap between the number of people who need care and those who receive it.

The aim of the Impact Centre is to close the gap between evidence and practice, ensuring that everyone approaching the end of life receives the best care possible.

The reception at the House of Lords was hosted by Baroness Finlay of Llandaff and focused on improving palliative and end-of-life care and reducing inequalities.

Professor Sleeman and Dr Jamilla Hussain, consultant in Palliative Medicine and Senior Research Fellow at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, both gave presentations: Professor Sleeman presented evidence on the increasing need for palliative care and inequality in access; and Dr Hussain discussed her experience of racial inequalities in access to palliative care.

Professor Irene Higginson, Executive Dean for the Faculty of Nursing Midwifery and Palliative Care, and Professor Sabrina Bajwah, Clinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant in Palliative Care at King’s, also attended the event.

Several peers and MPs were also in attendance, and a fruitful discussion followed the presentation. Baroness Finlay stressed the importance of continued advocacy and collaboration to improve palliative and end of life care.