08/12/2015
Majority of cancer patients and those terminally afflicted with other illnesses in 2012 were not able to receive specialised palliative care services, according to a collaborative report by Marie Curie Cancer Care and Bevan Foundation.
“Death and dying in Wales,” published last December 1, 2014, states that only less than 50 per cent of patients suffering from cancer and 5 per cent terminally ill with other conditions have received palliative care in Wales.
Data regarding deaths published by NHS Wales Informatics Service in 2012 were used by Marie Curie, one of UK’s recognised charities focusing on cancer and terminal illness, and leading think tank Bevan Foundation to come up with their analysis of the state of palliative care in Wales.
Prior to the report, the Welsh Government released findings from its iWantGreatCare survey last October which claimed that patients and families that received palliative care rated the service they got 9.56 on a scale of 10.
Wales have significantly improved its palliative care since 2008 when it invested £6.4 million to assist hospices and hospitals in palliative and end of life care.
But Marie Curie Wales Head of Policy and Public Affairs Simon Jones said that the charity’s new findings highlight the fact that more effort is needed to ensure patients requiring palliative treatment receive the care they need.
Only 3.8 per cent of dementia patients nearing death were able to receive specialised palliative services, according to the figures found out by the report. There is also a somewhat worrying discrepancy regarding receipt of palliative care between young and old cancer patients. 58 per cent of cancer patients aged up to 44 received care services they need compared to only 35 per cent of patients aged 85 years old and above.
To address the concerns highlighted by the report, the report’s authors recommends, among others, that the government in Wales should launch research to determine if patients coming from every socio-economic background are receiving access to palliative care equally.
