Palliative care: the situation of people with chronic respiratory disease

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Abstract
This article reports on a study of the care and services received by people in the year before death in one Yorkshire health authority. It describes the circumstances of people with end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or emphysema, who made up over a third of the deaths in the sample. People dying from chronic respiratory conditions often seemed to fall through the net of service provision, with their visibility to service providers limited to the need for symptom management in acute phases of their illness. Despite their terminal prognosis and often high levels of dependency and need, people had little or no access to palliative and terminal care. Some of the reasons for this are explored and ways in which services might be improved are suggested.

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