Quality health services and palliative care: practical approaches and resources to support policy, strategy and practice

Download or read book Quality health services and palliative care: practical approaches and resources to support policy, strategy and practice written by and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2021-10-01 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quality health services and palliative care are inextricably linked and both vital for achievement of universal health coverage (UHC). As countries commit to achieving UHC, it is imperative to ensure that the design and delivery of palliative care services place attention on quality of care, with action needed across all domains of quality health services: effectiveness; safety; people-centredness; timeliness; equity; integration; and efficiency. Providing compassionate, dignified and people-centred palliative care is an ethical responsibility of health systems. Progress towards UHC is at risk unless urgent action is taken to increase the provision of quality palliative care to relieve serious health-related suffering and guarantee dignity during the end of life for all people. This document provides a practical resource to support implementation of sustainable improvements in the quality of palliative care. It describes approaches to quality policy, strategy and planning for palliative care programmes and services, presents learning on quality of care arising from palliative care programmes, and offers considerations on measurement of quality palliative care services at all levels of the health system. The document also highlights relevant World Health Organization resources available that further support the development of quality palliative care services. The audience for this document is a general one that includes policy-makers, palliative care service planners, managers, practitioners and health care providers at all levels.