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Socio-economic Position and Access to Specialist Palliative Care: Evidence from the UK

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Ethical Challenges for Healthcare Practices at the End of Life: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Part of the book series: Philosophy and Medicine ((PHME,volume 141))

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Abstract

Ensuring equitable access to care between socio-economic groups is an ambition shared by many health-care providers in the UK, including those providing specialist Palliative care. Although global evidence suggests socio-economic disadvantage is associated with lower odds of receiving specialist Palliative care, evidence from the UK is more uncertain. This chapter explores what is already known about the relationship between access to specialist Palliative care and socio-economic position in the UK, considering the benefits of using the ‘candidacy’ model of access to understand this phenomenon. The chapter concludes with a call for more evidence about how health-care professionals assess Palliative care needs of patients and families who are socio-economically disadvantaged in the UK and how this interacts with other factors to generate or restrict access.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Observatory on End of Life Care, Division of Health Research, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Maddy French

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  1. Maddy French
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Correspondence to Maddy French .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ethics and History of Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

    Anna-Henrikje Seidlein

  2. Institute of Ethics, History and Philosophy of Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

    Sabine Salloch

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French, M. (2022). Socio-economic Position and Access to Specialist Palliative Care: Evidence from the UK. In: Seidlein, AH., Salloch, S. (eds) Ethical Challenges for Healthcare Practices at the End of Life: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Philosophy and Medicine, vol 141. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83186-8_11

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