Change in activity of palliative care services during the Covid-19 pandemic : a multi-national survey (CovPall)

Sleeman, Katherine E and Cripps, Rachel L. and Murtagh, Fliss E.M. and Oluyase, Adejoke O and Hocaoglu, Mevhibe B. and Maddocks, Matthew and Walshe, Catherine and Preston, Nancy and Dunleavy, Lesley and Bradshaw, Andy and Bajwah, Sabrina and Higginson, Irene J and Fraser, Lorna K (2022) Change in activity of palliative care services during the Covid-19 pandemic : a multi-national survey (CovPall). Journal of Palliative Medicine, 25 (3). pp. 465-471. ISSN 1096-6218

Text (Busyness_Author_Accepted_Manuscript)
Busyness_Author_Accepted_Manuscript.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial.
Download (584kB)

Abstract

Objectives: To identify factors associated with palliative care services being busier during Covid-19. Methods: Cross-sectional online survey of UK palliative care services (April to July 2020) (CovPall). Ethical approval was received from King's College London Research Ethics committee (LRS-19/20-18541). The primary outcome was change in busyness (five-point ordinal scale). Ordinal logistic regression investigated factors associated with the primary outcome. Results: Of 277 responses, 71 (26%) reported being a lot more busy, 62 (22%) slightly more, 53 (19%) about the same, 50 (18%) slightly less, and 28 (10%) much less busy. Increased business was associated with homecare services (odds ratio [OR] 1.93, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.15–3.25), nursing care at home (OR 3.24, 95% CI 1.70–6.19), publicly managed services (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.11–4.34), Covid-19 cases (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00–1.01), and staff shortages (OR 2.71, 95% CI 1.64–4.48). Conclusion: Services providing community care, and publicly managed services, may have been better able to respond to escalating needs during Covid-19. This has potential implications for both service delivery and funding models.