Health outcomes for people who use palliative care services

Health outcomes are being promoted as a necessary evaluation measure in hea lth care services. Less often discussed is the notion that health outcomes are artificially designated endpoints and that different people in the heal th system have different ideas of what the outcomes ought to be. Whose evid ence is acceptable and relevant in constructing a framework of health outco mes in palliative care? This paper presents the findings of a research proj ect undertaken in New South Wales, Australia, on health outcomes as evaluat ed by patients and caregivers. A wide range of health care professionals al so participated. Patients and caregivers valued outcomes or endpoints in pa lliative care that were not necessarily brought about by expert clinical in tervention. By adopting too narrow an interpretation of outcomes we risk sa crificing that which is uniquely valuable in palliative care services.