[Specialized palliative care in Denmark lacks capacity and accessibility].

Specialized palliative care (SPC) has a core task in providing palliative care to patients and the families of patients suffering from life-threatening diseases. SPC-units also support the generalist palliative care level. In spring 2016, Denmark had a capacity of 55 units comprising hospices, palliative care teams and palliative hospital wards, which is an insufficient number according to the European Association for Palliative Care recommendations. Despite many non-cancer deaths, 96% of the patients receiving SPC have cancer. The accessibility to SPC is unequally distributed across the regions.