Both palliative care and hospice care aim to provide compassionate support for those with serious, life-limiting illnesses. However, there are some key differences between these two types of care that it’s helpful to understand.
What Is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is specialised support focused on providing relief from symptoms and stress for patients and families facing illnesses like:
- Cancer
- Heart disease
- Lung disease
- Kidney disease
- Alzheimer’s
- Parkinson’s
- Multiple sclerosis
The goal is to improve quality of life through pain and symptom management and by addressing psychological, social and spiritual needs.
Palliative care can be provided at any stage of illness alongside curative treatments. It is not limited to end of life but rather aims to enhance comfort and dignity throughout the disease journey.
What Palliative Care Includes:
- Relief of distressing symptoms like pain, nausea, fatigue
- Coordination of care between multiple specialists
- Assistance for families to provide home care
- Counselling and bereavement support
- Guidance on goals of care and treatment decisions
- Assistance with advanced care planning
Palliative care takes a holistic view, treating the whole person rather than just targeting the disease itself. Support is typically provided by a multidisciplinary team that may include doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and therapists.
What Is Hospice Care?
Hospice care is a more specific type of palliative care limited to the very end stages of terminal illness when curative treatments are no longer an option. The usual prognosis for hospice patients is six months or less to live.
Hospice care continues the palliative focus on comfort and quality rather than seeking to cure or prolong life. The emphasis is heavily placed on pain management as well as counselling for emotional and spiritual needs when facing the end of life.
What Hospice Care Includes:
- Around-the-clock on-call support
- Pain and symptom relief
- Emotional and spiritual counselling
- Respite care services
- Bereavement counselling for family
- Guidance on ethical wills, advanced directives
In the UK, hospice care is typically provided in a patient’s home with visits from a hospice team. But services may also be delivered in freestanding hospice facilities, hospitals, or care homes with dedicated hospice beds.
Care is delivered by an interdisciplinary team involving the patient’s GP as well as hospice doctors, nurses, health aides, chaplains, social workers, therapists and trained volunteers. The emphasis is on comfort and dignity rather than aggressive treatments.
What are the Key Differences Between Palliative & Hospice Care?
In summary, while both provide compassionate end-of-life care, some key differences between hospice and palliative care include:
- Patient prognosis – Palliative can be delivered at any stage of illness whereas hospice only serves those nearing end of life, typically with 6 months or less prognosis.
- Intent of care – Palliative combines comfort care with curative treatments for disease. Hospice focuses care solely on comfort and quality of life once cure is no longer possible.
- Settings – Palliative care may be provided in hospitals, outpatient clinics, or at home. Hospice is primarily home-based care but may also be delivered in dedicated hospice facilities.
- Types of service – Palliative offers pain relief, counselling, coordination of care. Hospice emphasises round-the-clock on call support, guidance on wills and directives.
- Bereavement support – Palliative provides some bereavement support for families whereas hospice offers more extensive grief counselling.
It’s common for very advanced illness patients to transition from palliative care to hospice once end of life nears and the focus shifts entirely to comfort and closure. These compassionate care services play a vital role in ensuring dignity and humanity at life’s end.