DESK REVIEWS | 07.04.01.02. Hospice centres

DESK REVIEW | 07.04.01.02. Hospice centres

Yes, but in a small number.

Yes. In the public sector, there are 17 palliative care services under the auspices of the Hospital Authority in 2019 (Lam, 2019). In the private sector, The Jockey Club Home for Hospice which started its services in 2017, provides quality hospice and palliative care to patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families (The Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care, 2020).

References:

Lam, W. M. (2019). Palliative care in Hong Kong – past, present and future. Hong Kong Practitioner, 41(2), 39-46. Retreived from: https://www.hkcfp.org.hk/Upload/HK_Practitioner/2019/hkp2019vol41Jun/discussion_paper.html

The Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care. (2020). Jockey Club Home for Hospice. Retrieved from https://www.hospicecare.org.hk/service-detail.php?id=22&lang=en

Yes, hospice care is available, but is not covered under any medical insurance, and it is mostly for cancer patients. There are about 138 organisations across the country providing hospice and palliative care services, and these are concentrated in large cities (Khosla et al., 2012). The state of Kerala is an exception, as it has 60 hospice units for a population of more than 12 million (Kumar,  2007).

References:

Khosla, D., Patel, F. D., & Sharma, S. C. (2012). Palliative care in India: current progress and future needs. Indian Journal of Palliative Care, 18(3), 149–154.

Kumar S. K. (2007). Kerala, India: a regional community-based palliative care model. Journal of pain and symptom management, 33(5), 623–627. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2007.02.005

In 2016, there were two National referral Hospitals in Kenya with integrated palliative care services. In addition, the Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA) had integrated palliative care services (Palliative Care Units) in 11 provincial hospitals across the country and was working towards expanding these services to 30 other county hospitals. The process of integrating the hospital-based palliative services involved the following (Ali, 2016):

  1. Advocacy both at the national and at the hospital level;
  2. Capacity building through training and mentorship;
  3. Establishment of palliative care units through the renovation of an identified building/room and equipping them;
  4. Ensuring supply of morphine and other essential palliative care medicines and;
  5. Providing palliative care services to patients and their families

In 2019, there were 31 government hospitals with palliative care (Hospice Care Kenya, 2018), 15 free standing hospices, 11 hospices and palliative care services in the Mission hospitals, 8 in the rural community (FBO), 6  in private institutions and two in teaching and referral hospitals (i.e., Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital – Palliative Care Unit, housed in the Oncology Department – AMPATH) (Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA), 2019).

References:

Ali, Z. (2016). Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association: Integrating Palliative Case in Public Hospitals in Kenya. Ecancermedicalscience. 10:655. https://doi.org/10.3332/ecancer.2016.655

Hospice Care Kenya. (2018). Paving the way for universal access to palliative care in Kenya.  https://www.hospicecarekenya.com/other-news/paving-the-way-for-universal-access-to-palliative-care-in-kenya/

Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association (KEHPCA). (2019). Hospices. https://kehpca.org

For hospice facilities, according to the Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa (see https://hpca.co.za/province/western-cape/), there is a total of 97 hospice facilities across the nine provinces.  The table below illustrates the total facilities in each province, with a noticeable bias towards urban areas:

Province Total (HPCA)
Western Cape 17
Eastern Cape 7
Free State 8
Gauteng 16
Kwazulu-Natal 19
Limpopo 2
Mpumalanga 8
North West 8
Northern Cape 12

As with LTC-sector, there is no information available that indicates the total bed availability across these facilities and how many (if any) are available for dementia.