UICC World Cancer Congress 2006

Objective:The objective was to demonstrate the importance of home-based care in provision of palliative care to patients and families in need.

Methods:This was a retospective chart review study looking at the activities of MHM and checking out for the patients that were on home-based palliative care program. We had an outcome measure of improvement in pain and symptoms that patients presented with.

Results: Patients on the home-based care accounted for 40% of all hospice clients. We cared for those in their homes within a 20km radius. These people were very sick, weak, frail and really in the evening of their lives and could hardly get the means; both physical and socio-economic to access established services in the health units. We concluded that home-based care was a vital conduit of service delivery to the terminally ill who are always neglected by our health system.