Identified indicators for assessment of PC integration into the health system*
| Areas | Experts consulted | Indicators |
| Paediatric | Professor Julia Downing, Ms Joan Martson, Ms Lizzie Chambers | Number of paediatric PC services for children in hospitals. |
| Number of paediatric PC services for children in home care. | ||
| Number of paediatric PC services for children in hospices. | ||
| Cardiology | Dr Pablo Díez Villanueva, Dr Manuel Martínez Sellés | Existence of pioneering cardiology services providing PC. |
| Inclusion of PC topics in cardiology congresses and vice versa. | ||
| Existence of periodical meetings between the national PC and cardiology association. | ||
| Number of publications regarding PC provision in cardiology services. | ||
| Oncology | Online database search: ESMO, ClinicalTrials.gov and Scopus | Existence of certified centres for the integration of oncology and PC. |
| Clinical trials on early integration of PC in oncological treatments. | ||
| Number of publications on the integration of PC and oncology. | ||
| Primary care level | Professor Dr Scott Murray, Dr Sebastien Moine | Percentage of PC patients identified at the primary care level. |
| Existence of incentives to promote early identification of PC patients at the primary care level. | ||
| Existence of official policy documents regulating primary PC (laws or strategies/plans/policies) and primary PC education. | ||
| Long-term care facilities | Professor Katherine Froggatt, Dr Lieve van den Block | Existence of official documents regulating PC provision at LTCFs. |
| Existence of PC training programmes for staff working at LTCFs. | ||
| Existence of publications regarding the provision of PC at LTCFs. | ||
| Collaboration frequency between PC teams and LTCFs (estimate). | ||
| Fund allocation for the provision of PC at LTCFs. | ||
| Volunteers in hospice and PC | Ms Leena Pelttari, Ms Ros Scott | Number of volunteer hospices. |
| Number of PC volunteers. | ||
| Existence of data collection systems to track PC volunteering activities. | ||
| Existence of training programmes for PC volunteers. |
*Source: Arias-Casais et al. 22
LTCFs, long-term care facilities; PC, palliative care.