On the procedure for providing palliative and hospice care in Ukraine

Abstract

Palliative care, and hospice care as part of it, are designed to improve the quality of life of patients ending in incurable disease and to help members of their families. In only 20 count­ries around the world are Palliative and Hospice Care (PHC) properly integrated into the health care system. Proper PHC organization requires efforts at the public and political levels, a system of regulations. The study was conducted to determine the procedure for providing PHC in Ukraine and to establish its compliance with the needs of the medical community and Ukrainian society. The hierarchical system of legislative acts of Ukraine of PHC provision (Constitution of Ukraine, laws of Ukraine, orders of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine), which is comparable to the guidelines of the World Health Organization, was studied by the method of systematic analysis. Ukraine belongs to the group of countries with separate specialized PHC institutions, but the work of these institutions does not show signs of systemic organization at the state level (Group 3a according to the modified classification of Wright, Lynch & Clark, 2008/2011). In terms of the number of beds, Ukraine is provided with palliative care by 40.5% (1,500 instead of 3,700, which is calculated as 100 beds per 1 million population), with virtually no hospices at home. It is established that not all the main directions of PHC system development meet the modern needs of the medical community and Ukrainian society. It is considered necessary to study the experience of more successful PHC organization in Group 4b by Wright, Lynch & Clark’s countries classification. Keywords: public health, legal support, incurable diseases.