Specialist palliative care can cut healthcare costs and improve quality of life, new study shows

Specialist palliative care could reduce healthcare costs by up to £8,000 per person and significantly improve quality of life in the final months, new research from Hull York Medical School at the University of Hull, King’s College London and the University of Leeds has found. 

Published today by the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Palliative and End of Life Care, the study examined specialist palliative care delivered at home and in hospital. In both settings, it was associated with better quality of life and substantial cost savings. 

Specialist palliative care supports people with complex needs at the end of life and is delivered by teams with advanced expertise. Economic modelling showed that home-based specialist care reduced healthcare costs by £7,908 per person who died, while hospital-based specialist care reduced costs by £6,480 per person. 

Professor Fliss Murtagh, Director of the Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, said: "People are sometimes reluctant to seek palliative care, fearing it signals decline or adds pressure on the NHS. The opposite is true. Good-quality care eases symptoms, improves quality of life and reduces demands on acute services. Everyone with serious illness should feel confident asking for it." 

Dr Peter May, Senior Lecturer in Health Economics at King’s College London, said: "Previous studies showed that specialist palliative care supports people with serious illness to be at home. This is the first study to estimate the economic impact for England. About half of people who might benefit from specialist palliative care receive it, and this is highly cost-effective for both patients and the NHS. We must now turn our attention to understanding how and why people who might benefit do not yet receive palliative care." 

Although only around 1% of people die each year in high income countries, this group accounts for 8–10% of all healthcare spending—much of it driven by unplanned hospital admissions, which can lead to fragmented care. Many people would prefer to be cared for at home but still die in hospital. 

In 2022, specialist palliative care supported more than 20,000 people in England to die outside hospital, saving 1.5 million hospital bed days and £817 million in healthcare costs. 

The study combined evidence from existing research and government statistics to estimate cost savings linked to reduced unplanned hospital use. Quality of life was assessed across five domains: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain, and anxiety or depression. 

Demand for specialist care is growing, yet many people continue to miss out – an issue highlighted by recent research showing almost one in three people in England do not receive the end‑of‑life care they need. 

"Specialist palliative care improves patient experience, reduces bed days and saves money: An economic modelling study of home- and hospital-based care" (Peter May et al.)  is published in Palliative Medicine. 

Visit Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre for further information. 

NIHR Policy Research Unit in Palliative and end of life care 

The NIHR Policy Research Unit in Palliative and end of life care (PRU-PEOLC) is part of the NIHR and hosted by King’s College London in collaboration with the University of Hull, Lancaster University, the University of Leeds, and the University of Cambridge. Established in January 2024, the PRU-PEOLC is funded by the NIHR’s Policy Research Programme, reference NIHR206122. 

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. 

About the NIHR 

The mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by: 

• Funding high quality, timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care; 

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