Authors:

NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR PALLIATIVE CARE, PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND, HOSPICE UK

Publisher:

National Council for Palliative Care

Publication year:

2015

Pagination:

157

Place of publication:

London

Presents the findings from a survey of specialist palliative care services provided for people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The report gives an overview of care provided by hospices, hospital palliative care teams, community teams and outpatient clinics. The report shows that increasing numbers of people are accessing specialist palliative care across all settings - especially community-based services, with the average number of patients per service having risen for all specialist palliative care settings and service types since 2008. Dementia is becoming an increasing issue for community care specialist palliative care teams, with five times as many people with dementia accessing community services in 2013/14 compared with 2008/09. The proportion of older people (aged 85 and older) seen by community teams has also continued to increase, as it has for hospital support teams. People with cancer are still far more likely to access specialist palliative care than those with other terminal conditions, and the disparity is more pronounced in in-patient settings where just 13 per cent people seen had a diagnosis other than cancer. In contrast more than a quarter of people seen in specialist palliative care outpatient settings had a terminal diagnosis other than cancer. The data also show that the numbers of people from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities accessing specialist palliative care appears to remain disproportionately low. (Edited publisher abstract)

Subject terms:

surveys, palliative care, end of life care, hospitals, hospices, community care, dementia, health inequalities, black and minority ethnic people;

Content type:

research

Location(s):

England, Wales, Northern Ireland

Link:

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