Cheang, MH;
Rose, G;
Cheung, C-C;
Thomas, M;
(2015)
Current challenges in palliative care provision for heart failure in the UK: a survey on the perspectives of palliative care professionals.
Open Heart
, 2
(1)
, Article e000188. 10.1136/openhrt-2014-000188.
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Abstract
Objective Palliative care (PC) in heart failure (HF) is beneficial and recommended in international HF guidelines. However, there is a perception that PC is underutilised in HF in the UK. This exploratory study aims to investigate, from a PC perspective, this perceived underutilisation and identify problems with current practice that may impact on the provision of PC in HF throughout the UK. Methods A prospective survey was electronically sent to PC doctors and nurses via the UK Association for Palliative Medicine and adult PC teams listed in the UK Hospice directory. Results We received 499 responses (42%—PC consultants). Although PC provision for patients with HF was widespread, burden on PC services was low (47% received less than 10 referrals annually). While PC was acknowledged to have a role in end-stage HF, there were differing views about the optimal model of care. Levels of interdisciplinary collaboration (58%) and mutual education (36%) were low. There were frequent reports that end-of-life matters were not addressed by cardiology prior to PC referral. Moreover, 24% of respondents experienced difficulties with implantable cardioverter defibrillator deactivation. Conclusions Low HF referrals despite widespread availability of PC services and insufficient efforts by cardiology to address PC issues may contribute to the perception that PC is underutilised in HF. The challenges facing PC and HF identified here need to be further investigated and addressed. These findings will hopefully promote awareness of PC issues in HF and encourage debate on how to improve PC support for this population.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Current challenges in palliative care provision for heart failure in the UK: a survey on the perspectives of palliative care professionals |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1136/openhrt-2014-000188 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/openhrt-2014-000188 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| UCL classification: | UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1471333 |
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