Report says palliative care should be extended

A REPORT on palliative care in Ireland has recommended it should be extended to people dying from illnesses other than cancer.

Published jointly by the HSE and the Irish Hospice Foundation, the report found palliative care services for people with life-limiting diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart failure and dementia, were underdeveloped.

Launched by broadcaster Marian Finucane, Palliative Care for All: Integrating Palliative Care into Disease Management Frameworks found that some 95 per cent of the 6,000 people who access hospice or palliative care services in Ireland each year are cancer patients.

The report said there were no formal disease-specific guidelines for palliative care in Ireland, though those guidelines existed in other countries.

The report recommended all policy documents that refer to life-limiting diseases should include plans for access to palliative care. It also said collaboration between disease specialists and palliative care specialists was the best way to deliver care to the patients dying of illnesses other than cancer.

The report recommended an end-of-life strategy should be introduced for health service staff. Other recommendations included common eligibility and discharge criteria for palliative care centres.

Yesterday, the HSE said a forum would be held next month to review the report's recommendations. And it said three part-time clinical facilitators would be recruited next year to assist in integrating palliative care into the disease management plans for COPD, heart failure and dementia.

Finucane said the report and the measures being taken to implement it are very welcome developments for Irish families.

"Palliative care should be available to everyone in need irrespective of their illness," she said.