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Aim: This is a preliminary study to identify older people service needs in Hong Kong from the users' and service providers' perspective., Background: As the Hong Kong population is ageing rapidly, it is important to identify the needs for care of older people. Although a wide variety of medical and social services have been provided to meet the needs of older people, there has been little evaluation from the users' or service providers' perspective regarding what the needs are and how well current service provisions match their needs. In recent years the importance of patient-centred care has been emphasised, where patient's expectation of care has been given a central role in guiding and improving the provision of health. However few studies have been carried out with respect to services for older people., Design: To identify the service needs, a focus group study was conducted. Both service providers and older people were interviewed. This preliminary study used a qualitative research method to identify older people's service needs, generating rich information which could be used to inform older people care service development., Method: Data were collected by conducting eight focus group discussions. The focus group interviews were audio-taped. Interviews were then transcribed and themes were identified., Results: The study identified several areas for improvement in services for older people, covering adequacy, accessibility and affordability of medical services, coordination of health and social care, quality of long-term care, negative perceptions and training needs. Some themes such as service adequacy and negative staff attitudes occurred in both older people and health professional focus groups. The themes of fast access, continuity of care and smooth transition, affordability, provision of information of available health and social services appear to be universal as these have also been identified in similar studies in other countries., Conclusion: In addition to other objective outcomes, such as duration of stay in hospital or re-admission rates after hospital discharges, changes in service provisions towards improvement should be evaluated from the users as well as professional care providers' perspectives., Relevance to Clinical Practice: Areas of improvement in service delivery include timely access, continuity, affordability, better coordination of health and social care, quality of care particularly in the long-term residential care setting and healthcare professionals' communication and caring skills and attitude., (© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Aims and Objectives: Few surveys have been carried out documenting the quality of life for non-cancer patients in general district hospitals reaching the final trajectory towards death. We carried out a survey of 80 patients facing the final stages of their chronic illness as well as their carers and hospital staff., Background: With increasing life expectancy, a large majority of patients are older, where palliative care principles for patients with cancer are equally applicable. Few surveys have been carried out documenting the quality of life for non-cancer patients in general district hospitals reaching the final trajectory towards death in terms of patients' and carers' perspective, compared with the more extensive literature for patients with cancer., Design: Survey., Methods: Assessment tools include symptom check list, geriatric depression scale, Chinese Death Anxiety Inventory and the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire for patients; SF-12 and the Chinese cost of care index for informal carers; and the Chinese Maslach Bumout and Death Anxiety Inventories for hospital staff., Results: Lower-limb weakness (92·5%), fatigue (86·2%), oedema (85%), dysphagia (58·2%) and pain (48·8%) were the most common symptoms in this group of patients. The mean Chinese Caregiver Stress Index score was 45·93 (SD 6·45) (maximum score = 80). For staff, the mean SF-12 physical component score was lower than the Hong Kong population average., Conclusion: The findings suggest that there is room for improvement in the quality of end-of-life care. Relevance to clinical practice.  Patients in the final stages of many chronic illnesses have high prevalence of symptoms comparable to those of patients with cancer. Raising awareness and improving training for all health care professionals, formulating guidelines and care pathways and incorporating quality of care as key performance indicators are measures to improve the quality of end-of-life care., (© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Objectives: The burden of suffering among patients with end-stage chronic diseases may be greater than those of cancer patients, as a result of longer duration of illness trajectory and high prevalence of symptoms, yet they may be less likely to receive palliative care services. To improve the quality of care of these patients, we carried out a continuous quality improvement initiative among medical and nursing staff of a convalescent facility., Design: Evaluation of a quality improvement initiative., Setting: Nonacute institution in Hong Kong SAR, China., Participants: The participants were patients with advanced chronic diseases not opting for active treatment., Intervention: The intervention was a continuous quality improvement process carried out over a 3-month period, consisting of service reengineering, provision of guidelines and educational material, and interactive sessions to achieve culture change among staff. Evaluation before and after the intervention included patient symptoms checklist and quality-of-life measures for patients; quality-of-life and cost-of-care index for family members; quality-of-life and carer burden for staff; and use of various health care services., Results: There were 80 and 89 participants in the pre- and post-intervention phase. The initiative resulted in shorter duration of stay, fewer investigations, fewer transfers back to the affiliated acute care hospital, and more follow-up by the outreach team, with no significant difference in mortality after adjusting for age and comorbidity. Symptoms of pain and cough were reduced, while there was a trend toward more constipation but less dizziness. Family members' satisfaction improved., Conclusions: It is possible to improve quality-of-life care for elderly patients with end-stage chronic diseases by staff education, and culture and system change, not only without additional resources, but likely savings were achieved in terms of reduced use of health care resources., (Copyright © 2011 American Medical Directors Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)