The first 50 patients: A brief report on the initial findings from the Palliative Care in Dementia Project

The St. Christopher's Hospice Palliative Care in Dementia Project, funded for 3 years by the King's Fund, aims to investigate the palliative care needs of patients with advanced dementia and their families; to clarify the role of specialist palliative care for this patient group; and to examine the usefulness of one model of working. This interim report outlines findings from the first 50 patients taken on by the project. Early results indicate that both patients and their carers have a high level of unmet need. The model of care chosen for this project appears to meet many of these needs, and appears to be both cost efficient and effective in terms of improving end of life care for dementia patients and their carers.