A public consultation on the palliative care national strategy will be launched in the coming weeks, said Deputy and Health minister Chris Fearne on Saturday.

During the first conference on palliative care in paediatrics in Malta, Fearne said that statistics show that in Malta around 12% of deaths occur in private residences.

Out of this percentage a significant amount of them stem from people with terminal illnesses, who choose to continue living at home under palliative care until their death.

The minister said that a discussion should be initiated about palliative care in order to ensure that everything possible is being done for these people to spend the last period of their lives in the most comfortable way while also providing the best possible support for family members.

He also listed a number of initiatives that were included in the strategy, including the home palliative care teams, which will be multi-disciplinary teams that follow the people who receive palliative care together with their families.

Additionally this will ensure that prescribed doctor treatment will be properly administered in private residences. He explained that family doctors will be trained to offer this type of support.

On the palliative care of young patients, Fearne explained that even though this service is quite new, the palliative care strategy will also look at the transition between paediatric and adult care in order to make the transition better for teenagers and their parents.