Background: In December 2013, a partnership between five local health districts and a non-governmental organisation implemented the Palliative Care Home Support Packages (PEACH) Program. The PEACH Program aims to support palliative care clients in their last days of life at their own home. This study sought to evaluate the quality of care delivered by the service from the perspective of clients' primary carers.
Methods: A letter was sent to carers of clients 6-10 weeks after the client's death, inviting them to participate in an anonymous survey. The survey measured the level of satisfaction on various aspects of the service using FAMCARE and Likert scales, and invited for comments about the care received and suggestions for improvement.
Results: Out of 17 aspects of care provided by the PEACH Program, 13 were scored with 'exceptional' or 'acceptable performance'. The highest satisfaction was observed in meeting clients' physical needs and providing pain relief. The most dissatisfaction was observed in addressing spiritual matters, family conferences and information about treatment side effects. Ninety-five per cent of responses were either 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied' with the overall care provided at home during the last week of the client's life.
Conclusion: The results of this research provide further evidence to the field of what constitutes a good home death and the support mechanisms required to enable this. The results also have strong implications on how local services provided by the PEACH Program are delivered in the future.
Keywords: clinical decisions; home care; quality of life; terminal care.
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