Providing palliative care in primary care: how satisfied are GPs and district nurses with current out-of-hours arrangements?

The complex needs of palliative care patients require an informed, expert, and swift response from out-of-hours general medical services, particularly if hospital admission is to be avoided. Few general practitioners (GPs) re ported routinely handing over information on their palliative care patients , particularly to GP co-operatives. District nurses and inner-city GPs were least satisfied with aspects of out-of-hours care. Most responders wanted 24-hour availability of specialist palliative care. This indicates a need t o develop and evaluate out-of-hours palliative care procedures and protocol s, particularly for GP co-operatives, and to improve inter-agency collabora tion.