UK national study on referral time to hospice care before death
Research type
Research Study
Full title
National UK study on factors influencing duration of access to hospice-based palliative care services from referral to death
IRAS ID
206463
Contact name
Lucy Ziegler
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Leeds
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 17 days
Research summary
Early access to palliative care can improve symptoms, reduce acute hospital admissions, minimize aggressive cancer treatments and enable patients to make choices about their end of life care, including exercising the choice to die at home. Recent UK policy has identified the need to ensure timely access to appropriate care for those with palliative care needs (Marie Curie, 2015) including those with both cancer and non-cancer conditions. Current figures available on the number of days spent in palliative care services vary and detailed data are not available across the United Kingdom (UK). In regional research conducted by the Academic Unit of Palliative Care, University of Leeds, significant variation was identified in duration of time spent in receipt of palliative care across age group and diagnosis within Leeds. For some groups, there were significantly shorter times spent in palliative care, such as those with older patients and those with non-cancer conditions. In partnership with Hospice UK, we plan to conduct a national survey of hospices to identify the duration of time spent in palliative care across the United Kingdom (UK). This will enable a national picture to be formed and to add context to figures captured through the Leeds analysis. The work will also contribute crucial intelligence to the work of Hospice UK. Analysis of national data will provide the first benchmark of duration of access to hospice care prior to death in the UK and potentially identify influencing factors.
REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/WM/0412
Date of REC Opinion
19 Oct 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion