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01 September 2025 | Policy Analysis
Palliative care strategy
5.10. Palliative care
The provision of palliative care services in the public sector is mainly for adult patients requiring palliative care, and a multidisciplinary team approach is used. The palliative care services, which were previously at Sir Paul Boffa Hospital, were migrated to a new 16-bed Palliative Care Ward which was set up in 2015 at the SAMOC. Patients are usually referred to the outpatient clinic from the Oncology Department. Patients often receive other treatments within the hospital on the same day as their palliative care outpatient visits.
Hospice Malta is a voluntary organization that provides palliative care services to patients living with cancer, motor neurone disease and other terminal diseases. The organization is reliant on volunteers as well as professional salaried staff, such as nurses, social workers and doctors. Hospice Malta offers a wide range of services, such as hospital support, day care, home care, loan of equipment, physiotherapy, social work services, spiritual support and bereavement counselling. It receives around 25% of its funding through a service agreement with Government. In 2016 it announced plans to develop its inpatient palliative care facility, which will be funded by the Church (Micallef, 2016).
Puttinu Cares Foundation is a children’s cancer support group, which was officially set up in 2002. It is a non-profit-making NGO. Among its various aims it seeks to advocate on behalf of affected children and their families by representing their needs; to promote models of good care and practice; and to support families with a national information service.
In March 2025, Malta launched its first National Palliative Care Strategy 2025–2035, setting out a ten-year plan to develop a structured, integrated and person-centred palliative care service across the country. The strategy was preceded by a consultation in 2023 and draws on WHO and the European Association for Palliative Care definitions, stating that palliative care affirms life and regards dying as a normal process, and that it neither hastens nor postpones death. To this end, the strategy explicitly states that euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide fall outside its scope. The document highlights the need for a system that spans the continuum of care; from the home and community to long-term residential settings and acute hospitals, with an emphasis on strengthening multidisciplinary teamwork, governance structures, and sustainable financing. Priority areas for action include the development of a competence framework for health professionals, an expansion of education and training pathways, and the need to address workforce shortages across medical, nursing and allied health disciplines.
Despite these advances, the strategy identifies ongoing challenges, including the limited availability of specialist palliative services in Gozo, Malta’s sister island. It calls for improved coordination of services and the creation of a stronger governance framework to ensure equitable access nationwide.
Recent service developments complement the strategy’s ambitions. In January 2025, Hospice Malta inaugurated St Michael Hospice, the first dedicated palliative care complex in Malta. The premises were refurbished and restructured through government, corporate and EU funds. The facility enables Hospice Malta to expand existing community services, including day therapy and outpatient clinics, while also offering a 16-bedded inpatient palliative care unit that complements other services for a more comprehensive approach. St Michael Hospice also strengthens the organization’s educational wing, opening opportunities for collaboration and exchange with other hospices across Europe and beyond.
The strategy also highlights the important role of voluntary organizations in service delivery, particularly Hospice Malta as the main provider of community-based palliative care, but also other organizations offering specialized residential, respite, cancer support and psychosocial services.
References
Ministry for Health and Active Ageing (2025). National Palliative Care Strategy for Malta 2025–2035, available from: https://health.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Palliative-Care-Strategy-March-2025.pdf.
TVM News (2025). St Michael Hospice inaugurated – first dedicated palliative care complex, available from: https://tvmnews.mt/en/news/st-michael-hospice-inaugurated-first-dedicated-palliative-care-complex.