National End-of-Life Care Policy in the English Context: The Problem and Solution to Death and Dying

Abstract

The End of Life Care Strategy (EOLCS) was released by the Department of Health (DoH) in July 2008 to promote and reform the way dying persons are cared for by focusing on patient needs and preferences (DoH, 2008b).1 The policy is considered the first of its kind, both nationally and internationally, for systematically addressing end-of-life care (EOLC) in a way that is not intended to be disease-focused, using an integrated framework for the managed care of the dying via the EOLC pathway outlined in the document. The EOLCS draws on a history of palliative and hospice care within the United Kingdom (Ellis et al. in this volume; Seymour, 2012) and is one of the reasons the UK is considered to be world-leading in EOLC provision (EIU, 2010). This chapter builds on the previous chapter by describing the discourses used within this policy arena to frame death and dying as a problem that can be solved through the implementation of EOLC within a neoliberal, and yet nationally funded health service, framework.