Improving Palliative Care for Cancer

‘Improving Palliative Care for Cancer’ is an independent review that gives a fascinating overview of palliative care in the United States. Prepared in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council's Report Review Committee it has been reviewed by a panel of American experts and offers an opportunity to learn of the services, problems and aspirations of a rapidly expanding area of cancer medicine. This book is a report that ‘defines the major barriers that keep people from receiving excellent palliative care, as needed, throughout the course of their illness with cancer and recommends a series of steps forward.’ Throughout this report (it is a ‘report’ that is 300 pages in length) one can not help but make comparisons between palliative care in the US and in the UK. The problems presented to Palliative Care Services by the economic environment imposed by the American health care system are very different to problems faced by palliative care services in the UK. There are lessons to be learnt from a reimbursement system that appears to disadvantage patients who have palliative care needs. For example, there are obvious shortcomings presented by a reimbursement system that will only support patients in a palliative care programme for 6 months, which focuses palliative care on end of life issues. This limited approach to care will be alien to specialists in the UK where many palliative care services work in partnership with oncology services, supporting patients through treatment as well as in the terminal phase of illness.