Health outcomes for people who use palliative care services

Health outcomes are being promoted as a necessary evaluation measure in health care services. Less often discussed is the notion that health outcomes are artificially designated endpoints and that different people in the health system have different ideas of what the outcomes ought to be. Whose evidence is acceptable and relevant in constructing a framework of health outcomes in palliative care? This paper presents the findings of a research project undertaken in New South Wales, Australia, on health outcomes as evaluated by patients and caregivers. A wide range of health care professionals also participated. Patients and caregivers valued outcomes or endpoints in palliative care that were not necessarily brought about by expert clinical intervention. By adopting too narrow an interpretation of outcomes we risk sacrificing that which is uniquely valuable in palliative care services.