A Comparison of Four Outcome Measures of Terminal Care

In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland there are now over 170 terminal care support services operating from hospices, hospitals or the community (St Christophers, 1987). The services, usually teams, follow the hospice philosophy in caring for terminally ill cancer patients and families. More teams are planned or are being developed, in some areas expanding the service to include terminally ill patients other than those diagnosed as suffering from cancer. There is a need to evaluate these teams and to seek ways to improve care, but who should make the assessments of their work and how should these assessments be made?