ABSTRACT
Although most people who receive contemporary palliative care have a diagnosis of cancer, a significant minority are people with one or more of a number of other chronic illnesses. This chapter focuses on the issues involved in the provision of specialist palliative-care services to patients with chronic life-threatening illnesses other than cancer. Issues for consideration include: new models of working, collaboration and teamwork, education, and research agenda. The chapter explains the focus of specialist palliative care. It discusses the issues relating to service expansion and also explains how the services should be configured and resourced. Specialist palliative services for cancer patients take a variety of forms, including inpatient units (hospital, hospice), day hospices, hospital and community specialist nursing services, and home-care services. An expansion in palliative-care services could be achieved by increasing resources or by re-allocating existing resources. Finally, the chapter provides the implications for the future.
