Palliative care with older people

This chapter focuses on palliative care for older people. Palliative care in developed countries such as the UK and Australia originally centred on the needs of people with cancer, In the past two decades, the increasing recognition of the palliative care needs of people with non-cancer disease has highlighted that many people with chronic conditions associated with increasing age would benefit from palliative care. However, at present there is inequitable access to specialist palliative care services for older people and failure to address the complex needs of older people with advanced chronic and life-limiting conditions can increase the risk of hospital admission (Burt & Raine 2006). A report in the UK by the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (2009) identified that the majority of people who die in acute hospitals are over the age of 75. The enquiry found that up to 40% of people who were nearing the end of their life were inappropriately admitted to hospital to die.