A nationwide plan to improve care for the terminally ill was promised by the Scottish Government yesterday after a report claimed that palliative care services had become a postcode lottery.

Audit Scotland found that care was heavily skewed towards cancer patients and that people in remote communities received a poorer level of care in the final months of their life.The Government is due to make public an action plan on palliative care this year. However, Nicola Sturgeon, the Health Secretary, said: “This is a process that is already under way but there's no doubt we have to accelerate that progress.”

Audit Scotland found that 90 per cent of specialist care was delivered to cancer patients although the disease accounted for fewer than 30 per cent of deaths. It found that people with conditions such as organ or respiratory failure or dementia may have complex palliative care needs but were less likely to get it. Of more than 55,000 people who die in Scotland each year, about 75 per cent would benefit from palliative care. Yet only 5,000 of those who died in 2007 received help.

Health Boards in Grampian and Fife were found to have no palliative care strategy, while good practice was noted in NHS Orkney and NHS Borders.

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