Oct 19, 2022
This episode features Dr Richard Green (University of Surrey, Guildford, UK).
Multimorbidity is increasing substantially worldwide, is associated
with greater use of healthcare services, lower quality and quantity
of life, and rises with age. Older people with multimorbidity are
expected to become the main recipients of palliative care in
the coming decades; however, there is limited evidence of their
specific needs. Older people’s voices are vital to understanding
their own palliative care needs and priorities, but these
voices are hampered by structural inequities in service
provision.
This is the first paper reporting on the expressed palliative care
needs of community-dwelling older people with multimorbidity.
The most common palliative care needs identified across need
domains were pain, function, unhappiness, staying socially
connected, future planning, person-centred care and having meaning
and purpose in life. This paper highlights different
priorities between the reported items in tools used to collect
palliative care need and needs expressed by older people with
multimorbidity.
Further evidence is required to understand need to support service
changes required to provide accessible, person-centred care to this
underserved population.
Multidimensional palliative care tools require refining to
encompass complexity beyond the standard domains of palliative
care. Community palliative care provision should involve the
integration of care across sectors and recognise the diversity
of needs across the continuum of living and dying well for older
people with multimorbidity
Full paper available from:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02692163221118230
If you would like to record a podcast about your published (or
accepted) Palliative Medicine paper, please contact Dr Amara
Nwosu:
a.nwosu@lancaster.ac.uk
If you would like to record a podcast about your published (or
accepted) Palliative Medicine paper, please contact Dr Amara
Nwosu:
a.nwosu@lancaster.ac.uk