EU Joint Action: Integrating Palliative Care in the EU Cancer Agenda: Insights From JANE-2.

Abstract

Palliative care is inconsistently integrated into European cancer care, with fragmentation in provision, accessibility, and education leading to avoidable suffering and inefficient use of healthcare resources. There is a need to improve this through a Europe-wide initiative, the Joint Action on Networks of Expertise on Cancer (JANE-2), which builds on the earlier JANE initiative. Within JANE-2, one dedicated work package-6 (WP6) focuses specifically on palliative care. JANE-2 spans 42 partners across 26 countries, in a cross-national, co-produced approach. As part of this, palliative care will be systematically appraised, aligned and ultimately transformed through one work package with four distinct tasks including: 1) organization and delivery, 2) digitalized care pathways with patient-reported outcomes, 3) education and competence frameworks, and 4) indicators for monitoring integration, using a "networks-in-networks" model designed for sustainability beyond JANE2. These will include scoping reviews, expert consultations, and modular surveys to support cross-country mapping. The palliative care work package within JANE-2 will deliver shared standards, pathways, education, and indicators in a sustainable European Network of Expertise that aims to embed palliative care as an inherent component of cancer care.