Hospice to home: a patient-centric multi professional community approach

As people live longer with multidimensional health and end-of-life care needs, palliative care provision is becoming increasingly complex. Demands on hospice services are increasing, therefore new models of care are needed that are accessible to a wider range of patients. Most people prefer to die at home (Gomes et al, 2013a); however, evidence reports that the most common place of death is hospital (53%) (Marie Curie, 2013). This article describes how one hospice developed a model of care working in partnership with statutory services that provided patient-centred care, achieved preferences and prevented unnecessary admissions into hospital. It describes each element of the model and how they work seamlessly together. The evaluation of the model suggests that maximal impact can be gained by focusing service development on expanding and improving care at home. Preventing unnecessary hospital admissions, while simultaneously improving the quality of care, remains the fundamental driver for high-quality end-of-life care.