Lunt B
Soc Sci Med. 1985;20(7):753-9. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(85)90066-8.
Hospice care has expanded rapidly in the last 20 years. A wide range of services now exist in Britain, North America and elsewhere, providing specialist care for terminally ill people (usually with cancer), and following practices based on hospice principles and philosophy. These services include hospices, continuing care units or palliative care units; hospital-based support teams or symptom control teams; and home care teams. This paper reviews the development of these services in Great Britain and presents the results of a survey showing recent changes in the scale and regional distribution of home care teams (HCTs) and hospital support teams (HSTs). A previous study in 1980 showed considerable regional inequalities in the provision of these services, with the south east generally much better off than the rest of the country. The survey presented here shows that this imbalance in provision of HCTs and HSTs between the south east and the rest of the country has been reduced. There are still large differences between NHS regions, but with no clear geographical trend. The total number of HCTs and HSTs has grown from 33 in 1980 to 87 in 1983. Of the new services, 78% have been funded by one charity--the National Society for Cancer Relief (NSCR). NSCR was almost solely responsible for the levelling out of the regional imbalance. New HCTs and HSTs funded by other sources were more common in the regions already better provided. The role played by the 1980 survey in this reversal of regional imbalance is discussed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
在过去20年中，临终关怀服务迅速发展。目前在英国、北美和其他地区存在着广泛的服务，为绝症患者（通常是癌症患者）提供专科护理，并遵循基于临终关怀原则和理念的做法。这些服务包括临终关怀院、持续护理单元或姑息治疗单元；医院支持团队或症状控制团队；以及家庭护理团队。本文回顾了英国这些服务的发展情况，并呈现了一项调查结果，该调查显示了家庭护理团队（HCTs）和医院支持团队（HSTs）在规模和区域分布上的近期变化。1980年的一项先前研究表明，这些服务的提供存在相当大的地区不平等，东南部总体上比该国其他地区状况要好得多。此处呈现的调查表明，东南部与该国其他地区在HCTs和HSTs提供方面的这种不平衡已经减少。国民保健服务（NHS）各地区之间仍然存在很大差异，但没有明显的地理趋势。HCTs和HSTs的总数已从1980年的33个增加到1983年的87个。在新服务中，78%由一家慈善机构——全国癌症救济协会（NSCR）资助。NSCR几乎完全负责消除地区不平衡。由其他来源资助的新HCTs和HSTs在已有较好服务的地区更为常见。文中讨论了1980年的调查在这种地区不平衡逆转中所起的作用。（摘要截选至250字）
