Auditing palliative care in one general practice over eight years

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Abstract
To document the delivery and outcome of palliative care in one practice. All appropriate deaths were documented over the period of the study. One general practice of four doctors caring for 8000 patients in the North-West of England. All patients dying of malignant disease which had included a palliative phase of at least one week. Place of death; continuity of care; general practitioners' assessment of symptom relief; follow-up of bereaved relatives. 118 deaths from terminal malignant disease were recorded over eight years in my practice. 75% were being cared for by us (GPs) at the time of death. More detailed information was recorded on 64 of these patients showing generally "satisfactory" care. A simple audit can help maintain high standards of palliative care. General practitioners are encouraged to maintain registers of the care received by terminally-ill patients as an aid to quality assurance in this area.