Older People – Better Practices (2011)

Populations around the world are ageing, and more people are living with the effects of serious chronic illness towards the end of life. Meeting the needs of this vulnerable population is now identified as a challenging and growing public health issue. 

This publication, which was supported by funding from the Fondazione Maruzza Lefebvre D’Ovidio Onlus, provides examples of better palliative care practices for older people to help those involved in planning and supporting care-oriented services most appropriately and effectively. It builds on two previous publications in the WHO Solid Facts series, Palliative care – the solid facts and Better palliative care for older people, which set out the growing needs of older people, showed some of the problems faced in the European Region and introduced the concept of palliative care. These two booklets have been widely read and used, have been translated into many European languages and have helped palliative care to develop in many countries. However, they lacked specific detailed examples of how practice may be changed. We have gathered, from the literature and an international call, innovative and creative examples of palliative care for older people, particularly focusing on the European Region. Examples were appraised by an international panel of experts from different disciplines and countries. We included examples of ways to improve palliative care in various settings such as in hospitals, in nursing homes and at home. We also included examples of how symptoms can be improved, family members and caregivers supported and staff educated in the many places in which older people receive care. Since this publication does not have space to cover many other examples, these are listed in a table available at: www.csi.kcl.ac.uk. 

Palliative Care for older people: better practices targets policy- and decision-makers within government health and social care, nongovernmental, academic and private sectors and health professionals working with older people. We make recommendations for health policy- and decision-makers, health professionals and those funding research on how services may be developed and improved. These recommendations highlight the need to recognize the palliative care needs of our rapidly growing population of older people and to develop, invest in and implement a palliative care strategy that includes specifically the needs of older people.  They also highlight the need to invest in research programmes to determine the cost-effectiveness of ways to improve palliative care for older people.This task force worked closely with the European Union Geriatric Medicine Society.