BACKGROUND

Palliative care is recommended to help meet the needs of patients with progressive non-cancer conditions, such as long-term neurological conditions. However, few trials have tested palliative care in this population.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of short-term integrated palliative care in improving symptoms, improving patient- and caregiver-reported outcomes and reducing hospital use for people severely affected by long-term neurological conditions.

DESIGN

Pragmatic, randomised controlled, multicentre, fast-track trial, with an embedded qualitative component and surveys.

SETTING

Seven UK centres (South London, Nottingham, Liverpool, Cardiff, Brighton, Ashford and Sheffield) with multiprofessional palliative care teams and neurology services.

PARTICIPANTS

People living with multiple sclerosis, idiopathic Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, multiple system atrophy or progressive supranuclear palsy, with unresolved symptoms and/or complex psychosocial needs. The qualitative study involved patients, caregivers and health-care staff.

INTERVENTIONS

Participants were randomised to receive short-term integrated palliative care, delivered by multiprofessional teams, immediately or after a 12-week wait (standard care group).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The primary outcome was a combined score of eight symptoms measured by the Integrated Palliative care Outcome Scale for Neurological conditions 8 symptom subscale (IPOS Neuro-S8) at 12 weeks. Secondary outcomes included patients’ other physical and psychological symptoms, quality of life (EuroQol-5 Dimensions, five-level version), care satisfaction, caregiver burden, service use and cost, and harms. Data were analysed using multiple imputation, generalised linear mixed models, incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (threshold was the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence £20,000 per quality-adjusted life-year) and cost-effectiveness planes. Qualitative data were analysed thematically.

RESULTS

We recruited 350 patients and 229 caregivers. There were no significant between-group differences for primary or secondary outcomes. Patients receiving short-term integrated palliative care had a significant improvement, from baseline to 12 weeks, on the primary outcome IPOS Neuro-S8 (–0.78, 95% confidence interval –1.29 to –0.26) and the secondary outcome of 24 physical symptoms (–1.95, 99.55% confidence interval –3.60 to –0.30). This was not seen in the control group, in which conversely, care satisfaction significantly reduced from baseline to 12 weeks (–2.89, 99.55% confidence interval –5.19 to –0.59). Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were smaller than the set threshold (EuroQol-5 Dimensions index score –£23,545; IPOS Neuro-S8 –£1519), indicating that the intervention provided cost savings plus better outcomes. Deaths, survival and hospitalisations were similar between the two groups. Qualitative data suggested that the impact of the intervention encompassed three themes: (1) adapting to losses and building resilience, (2) attending to function, deficits and maintaining stability, and (3) enabling caregivers to care.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicate that short-term integrated palliative care provides improvements in patient-reported physical symptoms at a lower cost and without harmful effects when compared with standard care.

LIMITATIONS

Outcome measures may not have been sensitive enough to capture the multidimensional changes from the intervention. Our surveys found that the control/standard and intervention services were heterogeneous.

FUTURE WORK

Refining short-term integrated palliative care and similar approaches for long-term neurological conditions, focusing on better integration of existing services, criteria for referral and research to improve symptom management.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN18337380.

FUNDING

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Services and Delivery Research programme and will be published in full in ; Vol. 8, No. 36. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.