Palliative care is an approach meant to improve the quality of life of patients facing life-threatening illness and to support their families. An international workshop on palliative care took place in Caesarea, Israel under the auspices of the National Institute for Health Policy Research on July 4-5th, 2018, with the goal of discussing challenges to the development and integration of palliative care services in Israel. At the workshop, both national and international figures in the field of palliative care and health policy addressed several issues, including truth telling, religious approaches to end of life care, palliative care in the community, pediatric palliative care, Israel’s Dying Patient Act, the Ministry of Health’s National Plan for palliative care, and challenges in using advance directives. We summarize the topics addressed, challenges highlighted, and directions for further advancement of palliative care in the future, emphasizing the critical role of the Ministry of Health in providing a framework for development of palliative care.

Keywords: Death and dying; Hospice; Palliative care; Spiritual care; Truth telling.