Establishing patterns of primary health care usage in cancer at the end of life

Project Details

Introduction: Most people when asked express a preference to remain at home at the end of life.  A network of community support, including primary health care support, is generally considered essential if this preference is to be achieved. This project maps the primary health care service provision for people with cancer in the last phase of life.

Title: Establishing patterns of primary health care usage in cancer at the end of life

Rationale: The final six months of a person’s life are the most resource intensive in terms of health system usage, with 80% of this expenditure occurring in hospital. International studies suggest the involvement of GPs increase the probability of dying at home, decrease hospitalisations, and reduce aggressive interventions at the end of life. In the Australian context the care given to cancer patients by primary health care professionals is often unseen by other health services. The establishment of a health services linked dataset means this outside hospital activity is now able to be mapped.

Key Aim (s): It aims to understand the primary health service usage for cancer patients at the end of life, and associations with place of death and other quality indicators.

Potential Impact: Understanding the role and impact of primary health care professionals will enable better service planning and delivery to people with advanced cancer.

Researchers

Key contact: Matthew Grant; matthew.grant@svha.org.au

Funding

St Vincent’s Hospital Research Endowment Fund
RACGP Foundation
HCF Foundation

Research Group

Jennifer Philip



Faculty Research Themes

Cancer

School Research Themes

Cancer in Medicine



Key Contact

For further information about this research, please contact the research group leader.

Department / Centre

Medicine

Node

St Vincent's Hospital

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