TY - JOUR T1 - Lymphoedema management by independent hospices: a cohort study JF - BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care JO - BMJ Support Palliat Care SP - 389 LP - 396 DO - 10.1136/bmjspcare-2019-001896 VL - 9 IS - 4 AU - Andrea Brown AU - Carol Nicholson AU - Adam Fearing AU - Julia Newton AU - Simon Gordon AU - Andrew Hughes AU - Andrea Egdell AU - James Ellam Y1 - 2019/12/01 UR - http://spcare.bmj.com/content/9/4/389.abstract N2 - Objectives To consider the type and cost of clinical services delivered for patients with lymphoedema.Design Clinical cohort.Setting Independent hospices in the North East of England.Participants All those attending lymphoedema services delivered by the independent hospice sector 2017/2018.Results 13 914 lymphoedema appointments were recorded across four independent hospices. Twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty-five were attended, which equates to an approximate cost of £1.56 million. Those with lymphoedema were predominately aged over 65 (54.5%) years with females across all age groups being more predominant (3.3:1). Where the cause was recorded, 66% of activity related to lymphoedema was not secondary to cancer.Conclusion Independent hospices are providing a specialist lymphoedema service, which is high in volume and largely invisible. This service is delivered at not insignificant cost. In contrast to previous work, in the North East of England, lymphoedema sufferers are more likely to be female and not have the condition in association with cancer. The availability of rigorous data collection will allow the independent hospices to understand better the delivery and associated costs of lymphoedema services. ER -