Who needs palliative care?

Adult palliative care 2004-2030 population study: estimates and projections in Malaysia

Objectives

To estimate past trends and future projection of adult palliative care needs in Malaysia.

Methods

This is a population-based secondary data analysis using the national mortality registry from 2004 to 2014. Past trend estimation was conducted using Murtagh’s minimum and maximum methods and Gómez-Batiste’s method. The estimated palliative care needs were stratified by age groups, gender and administrative states in Malaysia. With this, the projection of palliative care needs up to 2030 was conducted under the assumption that annual change remains constant.

Results

The palliative care needs in Malaysia followed an apparent upward trend over the years regardless of the estimation methods. Murtagh’s minimum estimation method showed that palliative care needs grew 40% from 71 675 cases in 2004 to 100 034 cases in 2014. The proportion of palliative care needs in relation to deaths hovered at 71% in the observed years. In 2030, Malaysia should anticipate the population needs to be at least 239 713 cases (240% growth from 2014), with the highest needs among age group ≥80-year-old in both genders. Sarawak, Perak, Johor, Selangor and Kedah will become the top five Malaysian states with the highest number of needs in 2030.

Conclusion

The need for palliative care in Malaysia will continue to rise and surpass its service provision. This trend demands a stepped-up provision from the national health system with advanced integration of palliative care services to narrow the gap between needs and supply.

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.

A method for defining and estimating the palliative care population

Palliative care research is challenged by a disagreement as to what palliative care is, when it should be offered and what conditions warrant specialized palliative care services. These challenges became evident when we used a population-based data linkage to evaluate the delivery of palliative care services in Western Australia. This paper describes the development of a conceptual framework to provide minimal, mid-range, and maximal estimates of a palliative care population. The estimates include nonmalignant conditions; realistically restrict the number and types of conditions; and propose a time frame over which specialized services can be offered. In defining a palliative care population for the purpose of research, development of an estimation method simultaneously addressed the rhetoric of palliative care with the restrictions inherent in both population-based research and service delivery. When applied to a population, the 10 conditions of the minimal estimate provide an acceptable guide to future research and practice.

Estimating the size of a potential palliative care population

OBJECTIVES

To develop a method for estimating the population who could potentially benefit from receiving palliative care in the last year of their lives, and then apply the estimates to the Western Australian population to ascertain characteristics of these people.

METHODS

Three estimates of the potential palliative care population, Minimal, Mid-range and Maximal, were developed through focus groups, interviews and the literature. These estimates were applied to the cohort of people who died in Western Australia between 1 July 2000 and 31 December 2002 by linking death records with hospital morbidity data through the Western Australian Data Linkage System.

RESULTS

Between 0.28% and 0.50% of people in the Western Australian population in any one year could potentially benefit from palliative care, many of whom die from conditions other than neoplasms. While neoplasms accounted for 59.5% of all underlying causes of deaths in the Minimal Estimate, heart failure (21.0%), renal failure (9.8%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (9.6%), Alzheimer's disease (4.0%), liver failure (3.2%), Parkinson's disease (1.3%), motor neurone disease (0.9%), HIV/AIDS (<0.01%) and Huntington's disease (<0.01%) accounted for other conditions in this estimate. The study was expanded to include Mid-range and Maximal Estimates. Characteristics of the Western Australian population in these three estimates are described.

CONCLUSIONS

Unlike traditional palliative care estimates that focus on malignant disease, this study included nonmalignant conditions in a set of three estimates of a potential palliative care population. By using population-based data to describe characteristics of people who compose palliative care populations, these results offer a tool for planning equitable healthcare services.

Acute hospital-based palliative care services for the older person

With an increasing elderly population, estimated to rise to 26% of the UK's total population by 2020 (World Health Organization (WHO), 2004), this demographic represents a large area of potential referrals for hospital-based palliative care services. In planning service provision for this group, all nurses must examine current levels of access for older people to specialist palliative care services. This article explores barriers to the equity of access for older people to palliative care services, taking into account cultural, political, medical and ethical obstacles to the older person receiving evidence-based palliative care. The article analyses the benefits of palliative care involvement in a group who have multiple comorbidities and whose concerns, including adequate symptom control and assistance in making end-of-life decisions, reflect the philosophies inherent in the palliative care movement. Political- and clinical-based strategies in overcoming these barriers involving multidisciplinary working and education are necessary to ensure that the older person is being treated with dignity and fairness throughout his/her hospital journey.

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.