Access to psychological and psychiatric services needs tobe improved forthe dying
Authors: S. A. Murray, D. J. Chinn, A. Sheikh
Journal: Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine (2006)

Psychological and emotional support is fundamental to the provision of comprehensive end-of-life care. This is true not only for people with cancer, but also for people with illnesses such as heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and dementia, all of which are increasingly common.1

The survey by Price and colleagues reported in this issue of the Journal highlights problems with access to specialist psychological and psychiatric support for patients and staff in hospices nationally.2 They note a large discrepancy in provision compared with the recommendations made in the recent National Institute for Clinical Excellence guideline on Supportive and Palliative Care for adults with cancer.3 Of particular concern is the finding that 45% of hospices report that they have no access to psychological and psychiatric services. These deficiencies clearly need to be addressed given the high levels of mental health problems in this population.

This lack of access to specialist psychological support reflects a broader picture of unmet need both in the general population and also for those who are dying in other settings. It is, for example, important to note that despite the deficiencies reported, UK patients in hospices typically have their needs—including their psychological and psychiatric needs—met much better than do patients dying in the community. Whereas specialist palliative care as delivered in hospices is judged to be of near excellent quality,4 generalist palliative care services in the community tend to be under-resourced and patchy, with typically less access to counselling, social work, dietetic and occupational therapy support when compared to hospices.

Hospices have been and remain at the vanguard of palliative care improvements for cancer patients and it is thus reasonable and indeed expected that they would wish to highlight and seek improved services for their patients. However, not all cancer patients die in hospices. Some sections of the community face barriers to accessing hospices for cultural reasons, whilst others, sadly, decline to attend a hospice due to on-going stigma or distance to travel. Furthermore, people without cancer are still infrequently admitted to hospices due to a lack of capacity and staff training, and for historical and funding reasons.

Increasing access to psychological support in the hospice sector without parallel increases in other sectors will therefore increase the current inequalities in end-of-life care. The solution is probably planning and provision at regional or primary care trust level so that these much-needed psychologists and psychiatrists can work across care settings. Hospices in the UK might learn from Australia, where many community palliative care teams include counsellors, and sometimes psychologists, who may visit patients at home after initial nursing assessment. But, even though access to holistic end-of-life care is a basic human right which the government is committed to supporting,5 such workforce changes are unlikely, at least in the short-term, in the current cash-strapped NHS. That said, the NHS Service Delivery and Organisation R&D programme is currently funding a scoping exercise into the provision of generalist palliative care in the community, which is to be welcomed. This will hopefully bring neglected areas of provision, such as lack of psychological and spiritual support for people with advanced illness in the community,6 onto the radar screens of the bold new NHS End-of-life Initiative in England.5