Terminal care : services

Objectives: To explore the experiences of people involved in UK palliative care day services (PCDS) and identify the important outcomes of this service. Methods: Focus groups were carried out separately with patients, informal carers and volunteers from four purposively selected palliative care day units and with day unit managers from 11 units. Results: Patients benefited from both the support of PCDS professionals and social support of fellow PCDS patients, which contributed to a perceived improvement in their quality of life.

Aim.  This paper reports a study to assess the palliative care needs of the adult population served by a healthcare provider organization in Northern Ireland from the perspectives of patients, informal carers and healthcare providers.

Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Learn Now; Live Well (LNLW) educational programme on enhancing the knowledge and support of caregivers living with a life-threatening illness.

Design: A combined summative and formative evaluation design was used. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a questionnaire with a five-point response scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree and semi-structured interviews.