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Community hospitals: an under-recognized resource for palliative care

Community hospitals: an under-recognized resource for palliative care
Community hospitals: an under-recognized resource for palliative care
In the UK there are concerns that, in certain groups of dying patients such as the old, those with non-cancer diagnoses and those in rural areas, the quality of care is unacceptably variable. There has been no systematic survey of the extent to which community hospitals provide general palliative care for such patients. Therefore, by means of a structured questionnaire we asked senior nurses/managers at all 478 community hospitals in the UK for information on staff expertise, facilities and specialist equipment, liaison arrangements with specialist palliative care providers, priorities, practice and policy in end-of-life care.

Of the 346 hospitals (72%) that responded, only 28 were in urban areas. 73% of hospitals employed at least one nurse with additional training in palliative care, 72% had access to 24-hour specialist palliative care advice and 51% had separate overnight accommodation for relatives, but only 22% had designated palliative care beds. Most hospitals did not have written policies or guidelines for patient assessment or symptom control.

These findings add to evidence that community hospitals represent an important resource to improve access to palliative care for groups that are currently under-served.
0141-0768
428-431
Payne, Sheila
d7c97f41-ec69-4157-9339-ca07c521fbcc
Kerr, Chris
23ae68f2-2670-4c5e-ab30-4c06704e3c02
Hawker, Sheila
0e7539f9-9b7c-4757-bc7c-86ebd97b35e2
Seamark, David
a025ecd1-d1d2-410a-9006-6f3f14029ae0
Davis, Carol
2bc614b2-ba70-41bd-9d7e-9e1ca5b4ad5a
Roberts, Helen
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Jarrett, Nicola
2127f54c-9a95-4b04-a7f4-c1da8b21b378
Roderick, Paul
dbb3cd11-4c51-4844-982b-0eb30ad5085a
Smith, Helen
42562879-cabb-497a-9209-ae8c6530b37d
Payne, Sheila
d7c97f41-ec69-4157-9339-ca07c521fbcc
Kerr, Chris
23ae68f2-2670-4c5e-ab30-4c06704e3c02
Hawker, Sheila
0e7539f9-9b7c-4757-bc7c-86ebd97b35e2
Seamark, David
a025ecd1-d1d2-410a-9006-6f3f14029ae0
Davis, Carol
2bc614b2-ba70-41bd-9d7e-9e1ca5b4ad5a
Roberts, Helen
6150bc0b-3373-42fe-86e1-6f3bf2b96564
Jarrett, Nicola
2127f54c-9a95-4b04-a7f4-c1da8b21b378
Roderick, Paul
dbb3cd11-4c51-4844-982b-0eb30ad5085a
Smith, Helen
42562879-cabb-497a-9209-ae8c6530b37d

Payne, Sheila, Kerr, Chris, Hawker, Sheila, Seamark, David, Davis, Carol, Roberts, Helen, Jarrett, Nicola, Roderick, Paul and Smith, Helen (2004) Community hospitals: an under-recognized resource for palliative care. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 97 (9), 428-431. (doi:10.1258/jrsm.97.9.428). (PMID:15340022)

Record type: Article

Abstract

In the UK there are concerns that, in certain groups of dying patients such as the old, those with non-cancer diagnoses and those in rural areas, the quality of care is unacceptably variable. There has been no systematic survey of the extent to which community hospitals provide general palliative care for such patients. Therefore, by means of a structured questionnaire we asked senior nurses/managers at all 478 community hospitals in the UK for information on staff expertise, facilities and specialist equipment, liaison arrangements with specialist palliative care providers, priorities, practice and policy in end-of-life care.

Of the 346 hospitals (72%) that responded, only 28 were in urban areas. 73% of hospitals employed at least one nurse with additional training in palliative care, 72% had access to 24-hour specialist palliative care advice and 51% had separate overnight accommodation for relatives, but only 22% had designated palliative care beds. Most hospitals did not have written policies or guidelines for patient assessment or symptom control.

These findings add to evidence that community hospitals represent an important resource to improve access to palliative care for groups that are currently under-served.

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Published date: November 2004

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 33964
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/33964
ISSN: 0141-0768
PURE UUID: 5b90e2ca-caca-4c92-b010-8d25d4f6e02b
ORCID for Nicola Jarrett: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2513-8113
ORCID for Paul Roderick: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9475-6850

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 16 May 2006
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:48

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Contributors

Author: Sheila Payne
Author: Chris Kerr
Author: Sheila Hawker
Author: David Seamark
Author: Carol Davis
Author: Helen Roberts
Author: Nicola Jarrett ORCID iD
Author: Paul Roderick ORCID iD
Author: Helen Smith

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