Steele, K.

One of the major reasons for admission of patients to hospital in late stage disease is the inability of carers to continue to provide care at home. Specialist palliative care services have typically admitted patients for acute symptom control, terminal care and respite care to benefit them and their carers. This paper reports the results of a cross-sectional survey of inpatient respite care provision provided by specialist palliative care services and hospices in the UK.