Dr Martin Leiper, consultant in palliative care based at Roxburghe House, Dundee said the standards were “aspirational”. In the few exceptions where the local service did not meet the standards, he described those elements of the service as “nice to have” but not essential.

“We are not dismayed,” he said. He was “confident” patients requiring palliative care services were getting access to those services quickly and that those services were “competent”.

Dr Leiper was particularly pleased services offered to the children of patients with incurable diseases were highlighted in the report. A dedicated area specifically designed to address the needs of children has been provided at Roxburghe House in Dundee.

The purpose-built in-patient and out-patient facilities at Roxburghe House were provided with significant support from local fund raisers and were formally opened recently by TV weather woman Heather Reid.

The report highlighted that round-the-clock specialist nursing cover by staff with a specialist palliative care qualification was not always available on site. However Dr Leiper said doctors and nursing staff were always on the end of a telephone out-of-hours and could be called in if necessary.

He believed few units in Scotland could meet the standard of on-site round-the-clock specialist nursing cover. Most of the local nurses working in palliative care who did not have a specialist diploma were nurses in training, currently studying to achieve the qualification.

The nine-month wait to see a psychologist in Tayside was also highlighted in the report. Dr Leiper pointed out there was a national shortage of trained psychologists. He said all members of his team sought to provide a total approach to the care of patients and their families that included offering support and meeting psychological needs. The unit also had “family counsellors”.

The report also highlighted a lack of administrative support. This was not viewed as a particular problem by Dr Leiper.

“I’d love more administrative staff, but we do put most of our pay budget into nursing skills and medical and therapy skills,” he said.

Dr Leiper said the report gave him “confidence” in the accessibility of local services for patients with incurable diseases.

“Many people in Tayside support palliative care, but others are very apprehensive and don’t want to talk about it. If a report like this is giving the public and patients assurances we are coming up to a lot of standards and aspiring to some other even higher standards, that can only be a good thing fore the whole of Tayside. We are pleased with the report on the standard of our care and we are aspiring to higher standards.”