New study describing receipt of palliative care in acute care hospitals released

A new study conducted by NCRI staff has been released. This population-based study was conducted by Maria Kelly in collaboration with Ailish Hannigan from the University of Limerick and colleague Katie O’Brien from the NCRI. The study describes the receipt of palliative care in acute care hospitals among cancer patients who died in Ireland in 2016. The study objectives were first, to identify cancer patients who received specialist palliative care in acute hospitals second, to compare characteristics of patients receiving specialist palliative care with those who do not and third, to compare place of death for these two groups.

The authors found almost two thirds of cancer patients who attended a cancer centre and died in 2016 had a palliative care encounter. They were younger, less likely to be married, and more likely to be from deprived areas. Approximately half the patients died in hospital with differences according to whether patients received a palliative care encounter. Having accounted for sociodemographic factors, there was evidence of regional variation in receiving care.