A10-D Better Access to Palliative Care: The Australian Hospice@HOME Program with Global Implications

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It has become widely accepted that the majority of individuals wish to die in their own homes, but research indicates the majority of Palliative Care deaths occur in Acute Care facilities and Hospices. Modern medicine has allowed us the ability to predict the trajectory of death more precisely, yet death has become medicalised and hospital deaths have increased not decreased. In 2013, Australia embarked on an ambitious initiative to implement a health-promoting model of end-of-life care in Tasmania called Better Access to Palliative Care (BAPC). An essential element of BAPC is the provision of ‘wrap around’, low cost, community based packages of care provided by [email protected] [email protected] is the first end-of-life program of its kind where activities in all action areas of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Ottawa Charter is connected with principles grounded in patient centeredness, equity, primary care and universal health coverage. The [email protected] program aim is to deliver a replicable model of care that advantages other States in Australia in the future with global possibilities for other Countries. The significance of the [email protected] study cannot be underestimated. Longitudinal data collected from the implementation in 2013 until 2016 has evaluated the economic, workforce and patient satisfaction, along with a comprehensive examination of enablers and inhibitors of implementing such an innovative end-of-life program. Additionally, the richness of the quantitative and qualitative data provides unparalleled details about the impacts on the health care system and patient satisfaction. For policy and decision makers across the globe this study has far reaching implications on end-of-life planning. [email protected] is a significant program reflecting a model that delivers collaborative health outcomes, structured within a consistent approach. The [email protected] structure will enable the policy for the palliative approach to embed in health services and provide future global policy implications.