Those in social work jobs think end-of-life care is irrelevant to them, according to experts at the government's National End of Life Care Programme.

Margaret Holloway, joint social care lead at the programme said it is time for a culture change. She made the comment ahead of the publication of the framework, which will help the social care sector implement the national end-of life care strategy, which was initially published in July 2008.

She is cited in Community Care magazine as saying: "In social care it's about recognising the skills they have but also for healthcare to understand that there is a role for social care and it may be earlier than in the last weeks of life.''

During the programme, Holloway emphasised the importance of social workers' assessment skills and the value in taking a holistic approach when considering plans for end of life care.

Meeting with stakeholders found that progress on the strategy has been greater in health than in social care and that links between the two fields were inconsistent. The framework had recommended greater use of specialist social work teams.

Tess Smith, the programme's joint social care lead, said: "Expertise is not being passed on to the community teams and there's not a link-up to share their knowledge."

There were various other recommendations in the framework called 'Supporting People to Live and Die Well'. These include rooting end-of-life care within the care commission's and inspection standards, including standard social work training as well as establishing an evidence base of good practice.