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.
Learn More
- Read a summary of the report (PDF)
- Read a companion report on the results of a literature review on the cost and effectiveness of palliative care
This report was commissioned by The Atlantic Philanthropies.