Shutterstock.com
A national standard for community pharmacy palliative care would improve access for patients and their carers, according to a report from Hospice UK.
Published on 23 June 2025, the report highlights significant local variation in how community pharmacy palliative care services are commissioned.
It said a national standard would “make services more consistent and make it clearer what patients, families and other professionals can expect”.
The report has also recommended the development of “locally agreed services to support community pharmacies to hold stock of essential palliative care medicines”.
It has also identified opportunities to “strengthen education and training in palliative care and bereavement support for rural pharmacists”, and highlights the Daffodil Standards as a good example, developed by Marie Curie and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).
Other priorities include enabling all pharmacists to access shared care plans and health records, as well as wider use of electronic prescribing to “reduce delays and minimise travel”.
However, the report has warned that while community pharmacies are essential for rural areas, “they are under growing financial pressure and an increasing number of community pharmacies are closing”, which is having a “significant impact” in rural communities.
It goes on to call for specific support to help rural community pharmacies operate outside normal working hours.
The RPS is currently working on a refresh of its 2018 palliative and end-of-life care policy, details of which are expected later in 2025.
Alwyn Fortune, policy lead at the RPS, said: “Community pharmacies are a vital lifeline for medicines and for compassionate, expert support at this most difficult time in people’s lives. Yet too often, patients, families and carers face delays and problems in getting the support they need from across the healthcare system, especially in rural and remote communities.
He added that governments and the NHS should embed pharmacists within multidisciplinary teams providing palliative and end-of-life care, providing them with read-write access to patient records.
“We strongly support the adoption of structured frameworks like the Daffodil Standards across community pharmacy so patients get the best care possible, but this must be accompanied by a coordinated, well-funded approach to ensure no patient or carer is left without the help they deserve.”
A spokesperson for the Welsh government said: “Good palliative and end-of-life care can make a huge difference to those with life-limiting illness, helping them to die with dignity, and help the grieving process for those left behind.
“We provide more than £16m a year to make sure everyone has access to the best possible end of life care. This includes setting national standards, boosting community services and ensuring people receive the support they need.”
Under the Pharmacy Quality Scheme 2025/2026, pharmacies in England can claim additional payment if they routinely hold 16 specified palliative and end-of-life critical medicines, and can support local access to parenteral haloperidol.
However, a Freedom of Information request made by The Pharmaceutical Journal to NHS England revealed, only 47% of pharmacies in England in 2023/2024 routinely stocked the 16 critical medicines by the March 2024 deadline.
The ‘Palliative care matters for all’ draft strategy for 2025–2030, published by the Scottish government on 2 October 2024, is aimed to improve community palliative care by 2030. It sets out plans for pharmacists to routinely stock ‘just in case’ medicines for adults dying at home and residents in care homes.
The ‘Quality statement for palliative and end-of-life care for Wales‘, published in October 2022, sets out a vision for patients to have “24/7 single point of access to co-ordinated care, medication, and advice about end of life care, wherever they are located in Wales”.
Jenni Minto, Scottish public health minister, said: “Every health board currently has a local palliative care network in place, including community pharmacies.
“These local arrangements are designed to ensure that the needs of the local populations are met, taking account of the geography of the area and the local services in place.
“We will publish a new strategy this summer, ‘Palliative care matters for all’, which will outline our continued commitment towards improving palliative care and the steps we are taking to improving services across Scotland.”
The Department of Health and Social Care was approached for comment.
- This story was updated on 26 June 2025 to include comment from the Scottish government
