A qualitative evaluation of the impact of palliative care day services: the experiences of patients, informal carers, day unit managers and volunteer staff.

Abstract

To explore the experiences of people involved in UK palliative care day services (PCDS) and identify the important outcomes of this service. Focus groups were carried out separately with patients, informal carers and volunteers from four purposively selected palliative care day units and with day unit managers from 11 units. Patients benefited from both the support of PCDS professionals and social support of fellow PCDS patients, which contributed to a perceived improvement in their quality of life. Carers appreciated both the respite and support from PCDS, but acknowledged that they still had a poor quality of life. The challenges facing PCDS include the difficulties of discharging patients and the future role of volunteers. PCDS improved patients' perceived quality of life and future evaluations on patient outcomes could use concepts such as self-esteem, self-worth and confidence. Future service provision could explore the possibility of a mixed service using both the traditional and appointment-based system.