News » CQC, Research » CQC calls for a review of end-of-life care
July 10th 2026
CQC has called for a review of access to end-of-life care in a new report.
The 2025 annual report The safer management of controlled drugs calls for solutions that will improve access to controlled drugs to support end-of-life care.
The report cites a 2022 survey by Marie Curie which found that of the 60 UK areas surveyed, only 25 per cent had a pharmacy open throughout the night to supply medicines needed for end-of-life care.
The CQC concludes that lack of appropriate access to the right controlled drugs has been an issue for the past three years, putting unnecessary workload pressures on health and care staff, and has contributed to avoidable hospital admissions.
The report additionally calls for improved communication between health and care professionals and providers, and effective support for newly qualified pharmacists.
In total, total controlled drug items prescribed by NHS primary care services decreased slightly in 2025 by 0.3 per cent to 73.97 million items in 2025.
As in previous years, overall prescribing trends across the schedules remain stable. The largest increases were associated with medicines that are licensed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), such as dexamfetamine, lisdexamfetamine and methylphenidate.
Gradual reductions in prescribing continued for medicines that are generally less likely to be recommended as clinically appropriate, such as co-proxamol, nitrazepam and pholcodine. The prescribing of gabapentin and pregabalin remained relatively stable during 2025.
