Differences in understanding of specialist palliative care amongst service providers and commissioners in South London

This paper describes a study that sought to identify service providers' and commissioners' understanding of specialist palliative care within the context of changing service provision in one area of South London. Using a formative evaluation framework, we examined the views of 44 providers and commissioners from statutory and voluntary health and social care services about their understanding of specialist palliative care services and, in particular, the remit of current service provision delivered by a Marie Curie Centre. Face-to-face audiotaped semi-structured interviews were conducted. A qualitative thematic analysis highlighted a number of issues including a lack of consensus about definitions of palliative care, ambivalence about referral procedures, and a lack of role clarity between specialist and generalist palliative care providers. The study took place within the real world context of changing services and economic pressures. This raises methodological issues about how services are evaluated and what terminology is used to describe end-of-life care. The study findings confirm that confusion about terminology and referral criteria remain major issues for clinical workers and organizations seeking to access services.