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Economic Evaluation of Palliative Care in Ireland

Resource type: Evaluation

Aoife Brick, Charles Normand, Sinéad O’Hara, Samantha Smith, Trinity College Dublin |

This report examines the cost of providing palliative care in Ireland for individuals facing life-threatening illnesses, outcomes for patients and families resulting from that care, and the patterns and variations among the measures studied. Focusing their examination on three regional areas, researchers found:

  • Wide variations in the availability of palliative care services across the regions.
  • Significant differences in how those services are resourced and models of care.
  • Despite the variation in availability and models of care, costs remain broadly the same across regions.

Among the conclusions from examination of key outcomes for the patients:

  • High patient satisfaction with palliative care services across all regions.
  • Where available, hospice care is easier to access and rated more highly on every quality measure than in-hospital care.
  • The ability to access in-hospice services in the last three months of life would be preferable for patients and may provide savings within hospitals.

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This report was commissioned by The Atlantic Philanthropies.

Related Resources

Issues:

Aging, Palliative Care

Global Impact:

Republic of Ireland