Palliative Care for People in Prison

The Task Force was established in 2017 with two main aims: first, to develop a network of professionals interested in palliative care for people in prison from as many European countries as possible, and countries outside of Europe; and second, to undertake scoping work in at least five countries to map the current provision of palliative care for people in prison. The network, which started with a handful of members from a few countries in 2017, now has 115 members from 24 countries. The Task Force produces a newsletter twice a year, which is distributed to members of the network.

 
The scoping work has been undertaken in two parts. Part A, a survey of prisons and prison systems in the participating countries, was completed in 2019; a full report is available on the EAPC website, and a paper was published in BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. Part B is a qualitative study which has been undertaken in six countries: Australia, Belgium, England, Northern Ireland, Portugal and Scotland. We have interviewed 113 key professional stakeholders, most of them working inside prisons, but some from organisations external to the prison who provide palliative and end of life care services to people in prison. Data analysis is underway, and the findings will be disseminated in late 2023/early 2024.

The photo below was taken at the Task Force open meeting at the 18th World Congress of the EAPC, Rotterdam, Netherlands. 

Group resources

EAPC Task Force: Mapping Palliative Care Provision for Prisoners in Europe: Part A Survey Report

Turner M, Chassagne A, Capelas ML, Chambaere K, Panozzo S, Teves C, Riegler E. (2021) Mapping palliative care provision in European prisons: An EAPC Task Force Survey. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care. Available from: http://spcare.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/bmjspcare-2020-002701?ijkey=YI4jvFSiafvC2Bb&keytype=ref Published online 23 April 2021

group chairs palliative care for people in prision Mary Turner and Kenneth Chambaere

The Task Force is chaired by Mary Turner, Reader in Health Services Research, University of Huddersfield, Uk and Professor Kenneth Chambaere, End-of-life Research Group, Ghent University & VUB, Belgium.