It is welcome news that the government has pledged £286m extra to back up the new strategy for end of life care.

We have found service redesign enables local areas to have the palliative care services people need and want. The King's Fund evaluated our pilot delivering choice programme in Lincolnshire - a partnership between the NHS, social care and the voluntary sector - and discovered it helped significantly more people choose to die at home at no greater cost to the NHS.

We now have five other pilot projects around the UK and hope that the results from Lincolnshire will encourage other areas to undertake similar initiatives.

Individual strategic health authorities have given commitments to improving care for patients in their recent reports and we are grateful. We now hope we can work with the NHS locally so that the words of the strategy and Lord Darzi's report can be put into action.

Susan Munroe, director of nursing and patient services, Marie Curie Cancer Care