Election 2026: Dying well; a national health priority
Dying well is essential to human dignity. Just as our health system supports us at birth, through illness and in achieving wellness, it should uphold dignity, compassion and cultural values at the end of life.
Ahead of the 2026 General Election, Hospice New Zealand and our partners in the specialist palliative care sector, are calling on all political parties to commit to action that will ensure people across Aotearoa can access quality palliative care when and where they need it.
Our new Dying Well: A Palliative Care Policy for Aotearoa sets out why change is needed and four immediate actions that are urgent and deliverable within the first year of the next Government.
Read Dying Well: A Palliative Care Policy for Aotearoa
Our four immediate actions for the next Government
Progress implementation of the new National Model
- Fully implement the National Model for Integrated Adult Palliative Care, involve hospice in planning, costing and decision-making, direct new funding first to service gaps, and reflect implementation in the New Zealand Health Plan.
Invest in workforce
- Fund pay parity, so hospices can pay their clinical workforce the same as those in equivalent Health New Zealand roles.
- Develop and fund a National Palliative Care Workforce Strategy, attract and retain specialist clinicians, particularly in rural areas, and strengthen palliative care education.
Ensure children and young people can access the care they need
- Fully implement the National Model for Paediatric and Adolescent Young Adult Palliative Care so services are equitable, accessible and sustainable
- Ensure access to 24/7 specialist paediatric palliative care advice when required.
- Ensure specialist paediatric palliative care access regardless of where the child/young person lives.
- Ensure ongoing bereavement services for children and parents according to need.
- Involve hospice and the Paediatric Society in planning and decision making.
Make equitable access a national priority
- Commission Health NZ and Hospices to deliver an assessment of unmet palliative care need, so
communities with the greatest gaps can be prioritised in future funding. - Ensure appropriate 24/7 support at end of life is available no matter who you are or where you live.
- Embed Dying Well as a National Health Priority.
Where the parties stand
We have sent Dying Well: A Palliative Care Policy for Aotearoa to political party leaders and health spokespeople and asked them to tell us whether they will commit to these four actions.
We will publish their responses here as they are received.
1. Progress implementation of the new National Model for Integrated Adult Palliative Care
| Will your party progress implementation of the new National Model for Integrated Adult Palliative Care? | ||||||
| National | Labour | ACT | Green | Māori | NZ First | Opportunity |
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Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response
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Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response
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Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response
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Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response
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Committed
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| Full/qualified response from National goes here… | Full/qualified response from Labour goes here… | Full/qualified response from ACT goes here… | Full/qualified response from Greens goes here… | Full/qualified response from Maori goes here… | Full/qualified response from NZ First goes here… | Yes. The July 2026 Pae Ora amendments require a Government Policy Statement within 18 months and a New Zealand Health Plan within 24. Implementation belongs there, and we would advocate for it, with Hospice at the table for planning and costing. |
2. Invest in Workforce
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Will your Party Invest in Workforce by funding pay parity, funding a workforce strategy, create incentives to attract clinicians and make compulsory a standard of palliative care in training? |
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| National | Labour | ACT | Green | Māori | NZ First | Opportunity |
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Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle
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| Full/qualified response from National goes here… | Full/qualified response from Labour goes here… | Full/qualified response from ACT goes here… | Full/qualified response from Greens goes here… | Full/qualified response from Maori goes here… | Full/qualified response from NZ First goes here… | We support a funded National Palliative Care Workforce Strategy, and palliative care as a standard component of clinical training. On pay parity, we are not making pay commitments from outside parliament. But the underlying problem is a commissioning one: when the contract price does not reflect the cost of delivering the service, the gap comes out of clinical salaries and community fundraising. We support stable, multi-year commissioning priced against independently assessed need, |
3. Paediatric and Adolescent Young Adult Palliative Care
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Will your party support the full implementation of the National Model for Paediatric and Adolescent Young Adult Palliative Care, ensuring services are equitable, accessible and sustainable? |
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| National | Labour | ACT | Green | Māori | NZ First | Opportunity |
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Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed
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| Full/qualified response from National goes here… | Full/qualified response from Labour goes here… | Full/qualified response from ACT goes here… | Full/qualified response from Greens goes here… | Full/qualified response from Maori goes here… | Full/qualified response from NZ First goes here… |
Yes, on the same basis: full implementation of the paediatric model carried into the New Zealand Health Plan with a funding path attached, with Hospice and the Paediatric Society involved. |
4. Make Equitable Access a National Priority
| Will your party make equitable access to palliative care a national priority? | ||||||
| Labour | ACT | Green | Māori | NZ First | Opportunity | |
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Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Committed Supports in Principle Awaiting Response |
Supports in Principle
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| Full/qualified response from National goes here… | Full/qualified response from Labour goes here… | Full/qualified response from ACT goes here… | Full/qualified response from Greens goes here… | Full/qualified response from Maori goes here… | Full/qualified response from NZ First goes here… | Yes to the substance. The demand and workforce projections underneath our Plan are to be published in full, and you cannot fund a gap you have not measured; an assessment of unmet palliative need should be produced by the system as a matter of course, not by the sector at its own expense. Consistent 24/7 access regardless of where someone lives is the right standard, and rural access is a named outcome measure in our Plan. |
Dying well should be a national health priority.
Quality palliative care is about enabling people to live their final days supported emotionally, socially and spiritually, relieved from suffering and cared for according to their values and cultural traditions.
We want the next Government to make Dying Well a National Health Priority.
How You Can Support our Call