ABSTRACT
Over the past four decades, since the establishment of the ‘Modern Hospice Movement’, palliative care in the United Kingdom has become recognised as a medical speciality with an ever-growing body of knowledge and expertise. Further, government policy and practice frameworks have been developed, particularly over the past decade which has seen the mainstreaming of palliative care expertise into general healthcare (Clark et al. 1997; Robbins 1997). This chapter will discuss palliative care, which seeks to ease the suffering of people whose illness cannot be cured, and its current relationship with long-term conditions and the challenge of illness trajectories in long-term conditions, including the incidence of suicide in this population. Strategies for success will be outlined touching on collaborative partnerships and capacity building through workforce development across the specialities. Such strategies can work to minimise fragmentation of care and facilitate collaboration between healthcare professionals in all settings to best meet the multidimensional needs of individuals and carers.
