World Hospice & Palliative Care Day 2025

Each year, on the second Saturday of October, the world pauses to recognise World Hospice & Palliative Care Day (WHPCD). In 2025, that falls on 11 October. This observance is more than symbolic: it underscores a vital, yet frequently overlooked, global health commitment - ensuring compassionate, dignity-preserving care for people with life-limiting illnesses, and supporting their caregivers and families.

The 2025 theme, “Achieving the Promise: Universal Access to Palliative Care”, sets a bold agenda. It invites healthcare systems, governments, NGOs, communities - and yes, even regulated organisations - to reflect, plan, advocate, and act so that access to palliative care is no longer a privilege but a human right.

In this blog, Anna Nova Galeon will define key terms, explore what’s at stake, and examine how highly regulated organisations (e.g. in healthcare, life sciences, government contracting, social care providers) should approach this day - beyond mere awareness - to embed meaningful, compliant, and sustainable action.

Understanding the fundamentals - Hospice, palliative care, and universal access

Before exploring how regulated organisations can act, it’s vital to understand the foundations of hospice and palliative care - and why “universal access” is central to this year’s global theme. These concepts go beyond healthcare; they represent a shared commitment to dignity, compassion, and equity at every stage of life.

Below, we define what palliative care truly means, how it differs from hospice care, and why universal access remains one of the most pressing challenges and opportunities in global health:

What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing life-threatening illnesses, by means of prevention and relief of suffering through early identification, assessment, and treatment of pain and other physical, psychosocial, and spiritual problems. It is not limited to end-of-life situations; palliative care can begin at diagnosis and run alongside curative treatment.

Hospice care, by contrast, is a subset of palliative care, typically reserved for patients in the final phase of a terminal illness, when curative options have ceased, and the focus is exclusively on comfort, dignity, and supportive care.

Why “Universal Access”?

According to the Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA), more than 60 million people globally (adults and children) need palliative care each year, with over 80% of that need in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). While high-income countries meet over half of their local demand, it’s estimated that only 4 % of the need in LMICs is met. 

The phrase “Universal Access” implies eliminating barriers, geographic, economic, regulatory, and educational, so that no one is left behind. As WHPCA puts it, the KEY ASK in 2025 is the full integration of palliative care into health systems within the next five years. 

To achieve that, the campaign includes three sub-themes:

1. Empowering people and compassionate communities
2. Implementing palliative care policy to improve access
3. Integrating palliative care fully into healthcare systems through universal health coverage (UHC).

This is not a soft aspiration; it’s a challenge to systems, funders, regulators, and civil society.

Why World Hospice & Palliative Care Day matters

World Hospice & Palliative Care Day is not only about recognition, it’s about reflection, responsibility, and reform. It reminds us that compassion must be built into systems, not left to chance. For highly regulated organisations, the day offers a vital opportunity to evaluate how their frameworks uphold dignity, relieve suffering, and ensure equity in care.

Below are four key reasons why this global observance matters and why its message should resonate across every sector committed to safety, inclusion, and accountability:

1. Spotlighting a hidden global crisis

Many patients with serious illness suffer unnecessary pain, distress, and undignified death simply because palliative care is unavailable or inaccessible. WHPCD shines a spotlight on this “invisible” suffering, especially in underserved regions.

For regulated organisations, this is not just a moral issue; it is a compliance, policy, and reputational risk issue. Health systems that neglect or marginalise palliative care may fail to meet regulatory expectations around quality, equity, and patient rights.

2. Reinforcing advocacy and policy momentum

Over a decade ago, the World Health Assembly passed the only stand-alone resolution on palliative care, urging nations to “strengthen palliative care as a component of comprehensive care throughout the life course”. WHPCD 2025 builds on that legacy, demanding action, not rhetoric.

For organisations in regulated sectors (healthcare providers, pharma, medical device, health services), this is a cue: policy frameworks, clinical guidelines, licensing and accreditation standards should increasingly embed palliative care as essential care, not an optional add-on.

3. Fostering cross-sector collaboration

One of the key lessons from palliative care advocacy is that effective integration requires collaboration among multiple systems, including health, social care, primary care, civil society, and community networks. WHPCD provides a platform for stakeholders to form coalitions and share resources, including capacity-building toolkits and campaign materials.

In regulated organisations, whether in health, social services, or government contracting, this means seeing palliative care not as a siloed domain but as cross-cutting, touching patient pathways, procurement, regulation, training, and stakeholder engagement.

4. Driving awareness, education and cultural change

Many clinicians and regulators still misunderstand palliative care, believing it’s only for “giving up”. WHPCD offers an annual opportunity to educate staff, stakeholders, and the public about the holistic, patient-centred nature of palliative care. That in turn makes regulatory enforcement (around pain relief, mental health, consent, dignity, and quality standards) more credible and understood.

Practical implications for highly regulated organisations

So how should a regulated organisation, especially in the UK or Europe, respond in a tangible, impactful way to World Hospice & Palliative Care Day 2025? Below are the six strategic suggestions and operational levers:

1. Conduct a gap analysis & risk assessment

Start internally:

• Review current compliance or accreditation frameworks (e.g. CQC in the UK, health inspectorates, medical device regulations) for how they address end-of-life care, symptom relief, dignity, patient choice, and bereavement support

• Identify gaps in policy, training, documentation, or audit around palliative care

• Map where lack of integration may pose regulatory, quality, reputational or litigation risks - e.g. failure to provide adequate analgesia, failure to respect advance directives, poor transitions to hospice, lack of bereavement support.

2. Embed palliative care in governance and strategy

• Make palliative care explicit in clinical governance frameworks (e.g. in safety committees, quality subcommittees)

• Align with national or international palliative care policies (or promote them internally)

• Encourage your risk management and compliance teams to prioritise palliative care in their audits, inspections, and internal reviews.

3. Upskill key staff - Clinicians, regulators, managers

• Use WHPCD as a catalyst for mandatory training modules on palliative care principles, legal/ethical aspects (consent, capacity, advanced care planning), pain relief best practices, symptom management, and psychosocial support

• Invite guest lectures, case studies, or webinars during October to build awareness and empathy

• Ensure compliance teams understand how palliative care aligns with regulatory obligations (e.g. patient rights, dignity, human rights, ICS/care pathways).

4. Establish or partner in local initiatives and advocacy

• Host or support public awareness events, webinars, talks, storytelling, and panel discussions during the week leading up to 11 October

• Partner with hospice organisations, palliative care NGOs, and patient groups to co-sponsor events, co-create resources, and engage caregivers

• Use your position and influence (especially in government, procurement, funding, licensing) to advocate for policy changes such as reimbursement for palliative care services or integration into universal health coverage models.

5. Leverage communication and awareness

• Publish articles, case studies, testimonials, and infographics on your website and social media around WHPCD 2025

• Use the WHPCD toolkit (provided by WHPCA) for messaging, logos, hashtags, and press releases

• Encourage staff, patients, and families to share stories of palliative care experiences (with appropriate sensitivity and consent).

6. Monitor & report progress annually

• After 11 October, summarise your organisation’s engagement (events held, number of staff trained, partnerships formed)

• Feed these into your governance, compliance, or CSR (corporate responsibility) reports

• Use each year’s WHPCD theme to deepen action (e.g. if future themes emphasise “equity”, “digital palliative care”, “community empowerment”, etc.).

Looking ahead - The promise and the challenge

As WHPCD 2025 reminds us, the work of palliative care is far from complete, especially in resource-limited settings or in health systems slow to adopt integrated models. But the promise is achievable: a future where no one dies in unnecessary pain or indignity and where compassionate care is everyone’s right.

To succeed, we must treat palliative care not as a “comfort bonus” but as a core function of health systems and regulated services. That means embedding it into regulations, operational processes, clinical governance, and organisational culture, not only in hospitals or hospices, but across primary care, social services, community health, mental health, and even in sectors tangentially related (like disability services or ageing care).

Every regulated organisation, no matter how tangentially related, holds influence over procurement decisions, contract requirements, professional training standards, partnership networks, and public accountability. WHPCD 2025 beckons you to use that influence for change.

Turn compassion into compliance - Take action with ComplyPlus™

Awareness is only the beginning. Real impact comes when organisations translate empathy into structure, embedding compassion, dignity, and care into governance and accountability.

Here’s how your organisation can make a lasting difference this World Hospice & Palliative Care Day:

1. Integrate, don’t isolate

Make palliative and end-of-life care part of your organisational DNA, within training, quality assurance, and leadership frameworks. Use ComplyPlus™ to track participation, measure outcomes, and evidence care standards.

2. Champion learning and empowerment

Equip teams with the knowledge and confidence to deliver care that meets both human and regulatory expectations. Access bespoke modules and toolkits through The Mandatory Training Group’s learning ecosystem.

3. Collaborate across boundaries

Build partnerships with hospices, palliative care networks, and advocacy groups. Collaboration multiplies impact and strengthens compliance through shared learning and innovation.

4. Audit, reflect, and improve

Use October as your annual milestone for reviewing care policies, ethics, and governance. Through ComplyPlus™, generate reports and dashboards that transform compassion into measurable organisational performance.

At The Mandatory Training Group, we believe that empathy and evidence can and must coexist. Through ComplyPlus™, we empower organisations to embed care, compliance, and continuous improvement into everyday operations.