We are on the cusp of significant change in end-of-life care, next year there will be a new Modern Service Framework to enable equitable access to palliative care that is shaped by what matters to people. It’s a powerful opportunity to drive a culture of listening to and documenting of people’s choices at the end of their lives, with people in control of decisions. We are working hard to ensure that the voices of the people we support are heard as the framework is developed.
Jemma Woodley
19 December 2025
A Year of Impact: reflecting on Compassion in Dying in 2025
Our thoughts
Between our services and policy work, we are helping to improve what dying looks like in the UK. We are listening to what dying people tell us, supporting them, and amplifying their voices to change practice for the future.
As we look back on the year, here are some of the activities and moments we’re proud of:
- Our information line was shortlisted for the Helpline of the Year Award at the Helpline Partnerships Awards. We’ve grown our helpline team to three specialist nurses. Our new nurses are providing critical support and expert guidance to help people and families understand the law, know their rights and advocate for their (or their loved ones) wishes at the end of life.
- We have ensured the voices of dying people are being heard by policy makers in conversations about the design and delivery of end-of-life care through our responses to consultations on palliative care and social care in England, Wales and Scotland. Just this month, The Health and Social Care Committee’s Expert Panel’s evaluation of Palliative and end-of-life care in England recognised key points from our evidence including that:
- Advance care planning plays a vital role in ensuring end-of-life treatment and care is delivered in peoples’ preferred settings and unnecessary hospital admissions are avoided.
- People are too rarely given opportunities to plan effectively for future care and treatment.
- Opportunities being missed to discuss, decide and document what a person wants for the end of their lives acts as a key barrier towards shifting end of life care into the community.
- There is a need to improve the public and health and care professionals’ understanding of death and dying.
- As assisted dying laws were debated in Parliaments across the UK and the Crown Dependencies, we gave evidence to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill Committee, spoke at the RCN and Marie Curie’s summer conference: A Future Vision for Nursing in Palliative and End of Life Care: Beyond Assisted Dying and surveyed people who have called our information line to ask them what information and support they need to understand the law and have conversations with healthcare professionals about assisted dying.
- We’ve convened several public and stakeholder conversations to explore the need for a collaborative, public health behaviour change campaign on end-of-life decisions. The proposed outcome is that people’s experiences at the end of their lives are aligned with their priorities and wishes; and inequity of experience is reduced. In 2026 we will start audience-insight research to inform next steps, with lived experience co-production at its heart.
- We’ve worked alongside members of Subco Trust to create an information video on the benefits of advance care planning for people and families in South Asian community languages. We produced this in response to Subco members telling us that they want this information, but prefer video and audio to written content. We are pleased to be jointly publishing this next year.
- We submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to 214 NHS Trusts to explore their policies on Advance Decisions to Refuse Treatment and the Mental Capacity Act. We did this to better understand the full picture of how advance care planning is being implemented in practice, given the barriers the people we support tell us they experience in ensuring their wishes are known and respected when it matters most.
- We have shared what matters to the people we support to over 600 clinicians, professionals and members of the public through talks, webinars and education. We are contributing to teaching modules for both pre and post registration healthcare students, helping them understand advance care planning, the benefits of planning ahead and the impact when this doesn’t happen.
None of this work would be possible without the people who share their experiences and expertise with us – thank you, your voices are an important force for change. And thank you to all the incredible funders, partners and stakeholders we’ve worked alongside this year – your insight, support and challenge have been invaluable. Without all of you, none of our work would be possible.