Report on the pilot test of the community-based palliative care client data collection Cat. no. HWE 97

The National Palliative Care Strategy (DoHA 2000), a consensus document and framework for the development of palliative care provision in Australia, identifies the need for high quality data to support the delivery of effective and accountable palliative care services. The Strategy, which all Australian governments have committed to implement, identifies a range of information development activities as common goals in the development of palliative care services, especially in relation to accountability and reporting' objectives.

This report outlines efforts to develop a proposed data set for community-based palliative care services that is relevant to national policy development and accountability, and provides details of a pilot test of the data set which aimed to evaluate the data items and their permissible values. This project also occurs in the context of the 2003-08 Australian Health Care Agreements, which are the major mechanism by which the Australian Government disperses funds to the states and territories for the provision of healthcare services and outlines the states' and territories' obligations in respect of this funding. This work has been funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and has been conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare in collaboration with the Palliative Care Data Working Group. This group includes representatives of all state and territory health departments and other stakeholders.

© Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2007 reproduced with permission
The full report is available from the AIHW website
Report on the pilot test