National Palliative Care Performance Indicators – Results of the 2006 performance indicator data collection

In summary
 • This report sets out the findings of the 2006 national collection
   of performance indicator information for the palliative care
   sector in Australia.
 • In 2003, the Palliative Care Intergovernmental Forum, which
   comprises members from state and territory governments and
   the Australian Government, developed and agreed four
   national performance indicators. The performance indicators
   reflect the goals and objectives contained in the National
   Palliative Care Strategy (DoHA 2000), which outlines
   national priorities designed to inform palliative care policy
   and service development in Australia. The performance
   indicator results are summarised in the table below.

Summary of results for nationally agreed palliative care performance indicators
Performance indicator
 1: The proportion of administrative health regions that have a
      written plan for palliative care that incorporates palliative
      care elements 63% Performance indicator
Performance indicator 
 2: The proportion of palliative care agencies that routinely
      undertake or undergo formal assessment against the
      Palliative Care Australia Standards 21% Performance
      indicator
Performance indicator 
 3: The proportion of palliative care agencies that actively
      collect feedback from clients and staff (within the workforce)
      relating to services and service delivery 65% Performance
      indicator
Performance indicator 
 4: The proportion of palliative care agencies that have
      formal working partnerships with other service
      provider(s) or organisation(s)

• While the 2006 palliative care performance indicator data collection has suggested that performance, as measured against the four nationally agreed performance indicators, has fallen since the 2005 collection, it is difficult to know what specific effect amendments to the survey forms/questions and a change in scope for the palliative care agency survey might have had on responses and results. These amendments are outlined in Section 3, as are the results of a specific analysis that investigated changes in results for those agencies and health regions that participated in both the 2005 and 2006 data collections.

 • Given the ‘trial’ nature of the 2005 collection, and that some finetuning and further development of questions occurred in light of that collection, it is likely that the 2006 collection results should be considered more reliable. The third collection of national palliative care performance information data is currently being planned for late 2007. This collection will largely be a reiteration of the 2006 collection and it may be best to await results of that data collection to better understand changes in performance.

© Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2007
The full report is available at this link:
http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/aus/bulletin54/bulletin54.pdf