The job of Members of the Senedd (MSs) is to represent their constituents, and that includes people living with a terminal illness, their family members, loved ones, friends and carers. 

In Wales, decisions about health and care are the responsibility of the Welsh Government. This means that Members of the Senedd (MSs) can influence over how palliative and end of life care is delivered, as they can call for better policies and hold the Government to account. That’s why candidates need to see how being unable to access palliative and end of life care and support affects people in their area, so that if they’re elected to the Senedd, they’ll take action. 

Elections are a perfect opportunity to make our voices heard. Candidates are paying close attention to what’s important to people living in their constituency. They’ll be reading emails and letters, knocking on doors, speaking at meetings and attending events, all because they want your vote. 

By campaigning with us, you can help make sure they’re hearing about end of life care and why it should be a priority for the next Welsh Government.

End of life care in Wales is at breaking point. Gaps in care and a system under severe pressure mean too many people are spending their final days isolated, in pain, and struggling to make ends meet. Carers and those close to people living with a terminal illness are being left abandoned without support. Services and staff are struggling to deliver the care people need, when and where they need it. 

Marie Curie Cymru wants the next Welsh Government to take the radical action needed to fix end of life care. 

We’re calling on the next Welsh Government to: 

1. Ensure palliative and end of life care services are responsive to people's needs.

2. Sustainably fund palliative and end of life care.

3. Develop a palliative and end of life care workforce that meets the growing need for care.

4. Ensure people living with a terminal illness are supported to have conversations about their care preferences.

5. Provide 24/7 access to care and support.

6. Ensure people living with a terminal illness are supported to leave hospital swiftly, when they are able.

7. Guarantee equitable access to palliative and end of life care.

8. Provide unpaid carers with the support they need.

9. Protect people living with a terminal illness from poverty.

Read our full manifesto here. 

MSs represent you and their area in the Senedd, and take part in examining and passing Bills (proposed laws). 

This election, Wales will have 16 constituencies, each electing six MSs. Constituencies have changed since the last Senedd election, so you can find out what constituency you are living in by searching your postcode on the Welsh Parliament’s website.  

Some candidates standing in your constituency might have been announced already, but others won’t be chosen until closer to the election. You can find out which candidates are standing in your constituency here.

Marie Curie Cymru is calling on all candidates across Wales to support us and pledge to transform palliative and end of life care. 

We’ve created an online pledge where candidates can add their name. If you speak to a candidate, please share this link and ask them to support us. 

If you meet candidates in person, either at a meeting or on the doorstep, you can give them one of our printable pledge slips which includes the link to sign up. These are in the ‘Resources’ section and you can print as many as you want.

We’d love to know which of your candidates have added their name to the pledge, and to see any pictures you’ve taken: [email protected].    

During the election, candidates will be keeping an eye on their inboxes for letters and emails from voters. Writing to your candidates is a great way to get their attention, share why you feel end of life care should be a priority for candidates, and secure commitments from them if they’re elected as your MSs.   

There will be many candidates standing for different political parties in your constituency. But regardless of if it’s a tight content between different parties, it’s still worth engaging with candidates from all the main parties in your area. Even if a candidate is not elected, they may be able to help make your voice heard in other ways. 

If you’d like to email your candidates, we’ve written a template email for you. Using our handy tool it only takes two minutes to find your candidates and send a message: 

👉 Contact your candidates here 

💡 Tip: When you contact your candidates, try to make your message personal and direct. As candidates will receive a lot of correspondence from members of the public, this will help make yours stand out. 

You could also arrange to meet with candidates, either in person or in an online meeting. This is a very effective way of influencing, because you have their undivided attention! You can make it clear why you think good end of life care is so important, and you can share any personal experiences with them.  

Here is a step-by-step guide to setting up a meeting:  

1. Decide how you’d like to meet with your candidates. If you’re able to meet in person, you could do this in a public place, like a coffee shop. You could also ask if they have an office where you can have the meeting. If you’re not able to meet with a candidate in person, if you have access to a computer and the internet, you could ask to meet on Zoom or Teams if you find that easier.   

2. Send an invite to your candidates. We’d encourage you to invite as many candidates in your area as you can to meet you, even if not all of them can attend.   

3. Think about what you want to get across during the meeting. Beforehand, write down some bullet points of the key issues you want to discuss. For example, you could talk about why you think services need better funding, why there needs to be more services available where you live, how terminally ill people should get more financial support, or why bereavement support needs to be improved. If you’ve got a personal story, share that too, if you feel comfortable.   

4. Have a clear ask for your candidates. During the meeting, make sure the candidates understand what it is you want them to do. You could ask them to sign Marie Curie Cymru’s pledge, or to raise your concerns with their party leaders or health spokespeople. 

5. Tell us how it goes! We’d love to hear which candidates you spoke to and if they agreed to add their name to our pledge. Email us at: [email protected].

💡 Tip: Why not arrange your meeting with a group of other people living in your constituency who also feel passionately about fixing end of life care? Campaigning is most effective when you’re working with others, and it may feel less daunting.    

In the run up to election day, candidates will try to have as many conversations with members of the public as they can. This means that there are plenty of opportunities to ask them questions about their party’s plans for the future of palliative and end of life care services.   

You could ask a question at a local hustings. A hustings is an in-person or online meeting where candidates will debate each other's positions, put forward why they think they should be elected, and take questions from voters. To find a hustings taking place in your area either in-person or online, try searching online or looking in your local paper.   

Candidates and their supporters may also knock on your door, ring you and send your post, whilst they are out canvassing for votes. This another good opportunity to ask them a question about their plans.  

Here are some suggested questions you could ask, either at a hustings or on the doorstep:   

1. Everyone in Wales should be able to access the palliative and end of life care they need, in the right place at the right time. Question: Have you signed Marie Curie Cymru’s pledge to show your support for fixing palliative and end of life care services in our area and across Wales?

2. By 2040s, 37,000 people in Wales will likely need palliative and end of life care each year. Question: If you become an MS representing our area, what will you do to help make sure the system can cope with the growing need for care and support? 

3. Right now, too many dying people and those closest to them can’t access 24/7 care and support. Question: As my MS, what actions would you take to make sure this is addressed by the next Welsh Government? 

4. One in six people are dying in poverty every year in Wales. Question: As the candidate standing for [party name], what steps will you take to raise this with your party’s leader? 

5. Unpaid carers in Wales play such a vital role in caring for people at the end of life, often juggling multiple responsibilities and facing emotional and financial pressures. Question: If elected, what will you do to stand up for unpaid carers in our area?

It’s really helpful for Marie Curie to know what candidates are saying in response to your questions. So if you ask a question at a hustings event or have a conversation on the doorstep, please let us know what they say: [email protected]. 

💡 Tip: You could put a poster in your window for candidates to see (there’s a poster you can print in the ‘Resources’ section).  

Many of your MS candidates will also use social media platforms, like Facebook, LinkedIn, BlueSky or X (formally Twitter), to communicate with voters. If you use social media too, this is a great way to get their attention and ask them questions.

You could use social media to let your candidates know about why improving end of life care in your area and across Wales is important to you or share your own experience of end of life care and support. Always remember to be polite and as concise as you can!   

It’s worth contacting all your candidates who have social media. Make sure that you tag them correctly, and check it’s the right person! 

If you haven’t already done so, please sign our open letter to the next Welsh Government to commit to fixing end of life care. The more people that add their name, the stronger the message we’ll send. 

👉 Sign the open letter

Here are some ways you can ask others to sign our open letter:    

•  Spread the word on social media. If you use Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), LinkedIn or any other social media platform, you could share the open letter with your followers. Here’s an example post you can use: 

I’ve just signed Marie Curie Cymru’s open letter calling on the next Welsh Government to #FixEndofLifeCare, so that everyone in Wales can receive the support they need. Will you join me? 

• Send family and friends a message on WhatsApp. Using the same wording, you could send a direct message to family and friends on WhatsApp. Sharing in any WhatsApp groups you’re a member of is a great way to collect signatures!   

• Share the open letter by email. You could send a short email to family and friends encouraging them to sign. You could say why it’s important they share the open letter and why you think the next Welsh Government should fix end of life care. 

• Encourage people to sign in-person. In the ‘Resources’ section, we’ve created some paper slips which contain a link to the open letter. You could print some of these out and share with people in-person.

Candidates read local newspapers to keep on top of the issues that are affecting your community. Sharing your story in the media will draw their attention to why end of life care and support needs to be improved where you live.   
  
It will also help make other people living in your area aware. If they have a similar experience to yours, it may encourage them to speak with their local candidates about end of life care too.   
  
We’ve got a hand tool which you can use to write a letter to your local papers. 

👉 Write to your local paper 

When you send your letter, make sure you include where you live as they’ll need this information to know you’re a local resident.   

Once you’ve sent your letter, keep an eye out to see if your letter has been published, either in print or on the paper’s website. Journalists tend to be very busy, so you may need to contact the newspaper again to ask if they’ve published it. 
 
If your letter has made it into the local paper, do let us know: [email protected].   

Putting a poster in your window is a great way to tell other people that you’re campaigning to make sure that fixing end of life care is on the agenda of the next Welsh Government. 

It’s also a good way to get the attention of candidates and their supporters who are knocking on doors canvassing for votes. By seeing the poster in your window, they’ll know this is an important issue for you if they knock on your door.   

We’ve created a poster for you to print, which you can find in the ‘Resources’ section.

💡 Tip: You could print some posters and see if they could be displayed on notice boards in your local shops, libraries or community centre. Also, don’t forget to encourage other people to put a poster in their windows too!  

Campaigning works best when people come together from right across the community to call for change. So whatever activities you take part in, try to tell as many people as you can. 

Whether it’s family, friends or neighbours, tell them why you think it’s so important the next Welsh Government improves end of life care and ask them to get involved too!

Information about voting 

If you’re 16 or over on 7th May 2026, you can vote in the Senedd election. If you’re voting for the first time, vote.wales is the official website for the Senedd election and has clear, impartial information about who can vote, how voting works, and key dates. You can also use it to find your constituency and where to vote, including your polling station.

To vote, you’ll need to make sure you’re registered. 

How voting works 

The way you vote in the Senedd election has changed. 

This election, Members of the Senedd will be elected using a ‘closed proportional list system’. That means that you’ll get one vote for a political party or one independent candidate (this is different to previous Senedd elections, where you’d vote for both a regional and constituency MS). 

Seats in the Senedd will then be allocated based on the share of the vote each party or independent candidate receives. Your constituency will be represented by six Members who have been allocated seats. 

You can use vote.wales to find out:

• What constituency you are living in by searching your postcode

• Where to vote, including the location of your polling station

• Which candidates are standing in your constituency

If you can’t vote in person 

If you think you might find it difficult in person on polling day, you can register for a postal or proxy vote. A proxy vote means that you have given someone else permission to vote on your behalf. 

You’ll need to apply for these beforehand. To find out more, you can visit the Electoral Commission’s website (and make sure to set your location at the top to ‘Wales’):  

·    For information on setting up a postal vote. 
·    For information on setting up a proxy vote.

💡 Tip: Lost your ID? Don’t panic - unlike in UK parliamentary elections, you do not need to provide your photo ID in order to vote in the Senedd election.

A4 printable posters

Option 1: better suited for higher quality/colour printers 

Option 2: better suited for lower quality/greyscale printers

Slips

A4 printable open letter slips to share with friends and family

A4 printable pledge slips to share with MS candidates