TY - JOUR
T1 - Change in Activity of Palliative Care Services during the Covid-19 Pandemic
T2 - A Multinational Survey (CovPall)
AU - Sleeman, Katherine E.
AU - Cripps, Rachel L.
AU - Murtagh, Fliss E.M.
AU - Oluyase, Adejoke O.
AU - Hocaoglu, Mevhibe B.
AU - Maddocks, Matthew
AU - Walshe, Catherine
AU - Preston, Nancy
AU - Dunleavy, Lesley
AU - Bradshaw, Andy
AU - Bajwah, Sabrina
AU - Higginson, Irene J.
AU - Fraser, Lorna K.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by UKRI (United Kingdom Research and Innovation) and NIHR [COV0011; MR/ V012908/1]. Additional support was from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Applied Research Collaboration, South London, hosted at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and Cicely Saunders International (Registered Charity No. 1087195). The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report.
Funding Information:
I.J.H. is an NIHR Emeritus Senior Investigator and is supported by the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) South London (SL) at King's College Hospital National Health Service Foundation Trust. I.J.H. leads the Palliative and End-of-Life Care theme of the NIHR ARC SL and co-leads the national theme in this. M.M. is funded by an NIHR Career Development Fellowship (CDF-2017-10-009) and NIHR ARC SL. L.K.F. is funded by an NIHR Career Development Fellowship (CDF-2018-11-ST2-002). K.E.S. is funded by an NIHR Clinician Scientist Fellowship (CS-2015-15-005), and is the Laing Galazka Chair in Palliative Care at King's College London, funded by an endowment from Cicely Saunders International and the Kirby Laing Foundation. R.L.C. is funded by Cicely Saunders International and Marie Curie, grant [MCSON-20-102]. F.E.M.M. is an NIHR Senior Investigator. M.B.H. is supported by the NIHR ARC SL.
Funding Information:
I.J.H. is the grant holder and chief investigator; K.E.S., M.M., F.E.M.M., C.W., N.P., L.K.F., S.B., M.B.H., and A.O.O. are co-applicants for funding. I.J.H. and C.W., with critical input from all authors, wrote the protocol for the CovPall study. M.B.H., A.O.O., and R.L.C. coordinated data collection and liaised with centers, with input from I.J.H. R.L.C., K.E.S., and L.K.F. analyzed the data. All authors had access to all study data, discussed the interpretation of findings, and take responsibility for data integrity and analysis. K.E.S., R.L.C., and L.K.F. drafted the article. All authors (K.E.S., R.L.C., F.E.M.M., A.O.O., M.B.H., M.M., C.W., N.P., L.D., A.B., S.B., I.J.H., and L.K.F.) contributed to the analysis plan and provided critical revision of the article for important intellectual content. I.J.H. is the guarantor.
Publisher Copyright:
© Katherine E. Sleeman et al., 2022; Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2022.
PY - 2022/3/1
Y1 - 2022/3/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Covid-19
KW - end-of-life care
KW - hospices
KW - palliative care
KW - pandemics
KW - severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125553931&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1089/jpm.2021.0315
DO - 10.1089/jpm.2021.0315
M3 - Article
C2 - 34935477
AN - SCOPUS:85125553931
SN - 1557-7740
VL - 25
SP - 465
EP - 471
JO - Journal of palliative medicine
JF - Journal of palliative medicine
IS - 3
ER -