Debate contribution: Inquiry into Access to Palliative Care Services

Debate contribution by Mr Alan Chambers on 2 December 2025.

MLA: Mr Alan Chambers
Party at the time: Ulster Unionist Party
Date: 2 December 2025
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Committee Business
Heading: Inquiry into Access to Palliative Care Services
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5272225

Text

I certainly welcome the opportunity to speak in this important debate. I am sure that there is political unanimity right across the Chamber on the desire for high-quality, dignified care from diagnosis through to the end of life. Through lived experience with friends and family, some of us have likely seen at first hand the importance of person-centred support at the most vulnerable points in life. Despite what many of us already knew about such care, the recent Health Committee inquiry has still provided an incredibly comprehensive examination of the palliative and end-of-life care that is undertaken in Northern Ireland. It was certainly an informative, and sometimes eye-opening, scrutiny of the issue. Palliative care in Northern Ireland has many strengths. Our hospices, community nursing teams, hospital specialists, GPs and pharmacists provide care that is marked by professionalism and humanity. That was remarked upon often throughout the inquiry. However, the inquiry also highlighted real challenges. Access remains uneven sometimes, particularly in rural and isolated areas, where travel distances and gaps in community provision can limit choice at the end of life. Workforce pressures can also impact on the consistency of care that people receive. As has been discussed before, hospices often rely on charitable fundraising to sustain the core services that the public rightly expect to be available. Various central departmental investments have been made in recent years, and I welcome those. Another theme that emerged clearly from the inquiry is the need for earlier identification of palliative needs and better planning. Too many people still associate palliative care only with the final days of life, when, in reality, its purpose is much broader: supporting quality of life, better management of symptoms and strengthening family resilience over a longer period. I look forward to the Minister's consideration of the Committee's findings. I trust that he and his officials will engage meaningfully on them. However, I am also conscious that, whilst some of the recommendations can be implemented quickly and at minimal or no cost, the report also calls for significant investment. As much as we may all support that, no one in the Chamber will be unaware of the wider budgetary reality that faces the Department. Ultimately, our goal must be a Northern Ireland where every person, regardless of diagnosis, home address or circumstances, can access timely and quality palliative care in the setting that best supports them and their loved ones. I hope that the inquiry will further help to deliver that. I take this opportunity to state my party's thanks and appreciation for the caring work that is carried out by everyone who works in that important and, at times, very demanding sector.

444 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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