Macmillan: It is now up to the government

Ciarán Devane, chief executive, Macmillan Cancer Support, welcomes the palliative care review and the possibility it could lead to a massive improvement to palliative care:

"We welcome the findings of the funding review especially the importance placed on ensuring people can die where they choose. In reality, this is far from the case for thousands of people with a cancer diagnosis.

"24 hour community nursing services are crucial to the delivery of choice and to the realisation of these ambitious recommendations. It is now up to the government to ensure that these services are standard across the country. We need to see a massive improvement on the 56% of PCTs who currently provide 24 hour community nursing to all end of life patients."

"Macmillan looks forward to supporting the pilots due to be launched as a result of this funding review."