This report addresses how long patients with life-threatening diseases wait to access specialist palliative care.
Patients referred for specialist palliative care are in challenging circumstances and often experience severe pain or have other complex palliative needs. Therefore, it’s crucial that the waiting time for access to specialist palliative care is short.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether the regions have ensured prompt and uniform times to access specialist palliative care for patients with life-threatening diseases.
Rigsrevisionen assesses that the regions have not ensured prompt and uniform times to access specialist palliative care for patients with life-threatening diseases. Rigsrevisionen notes that almost five years after the Public Accounts Committee last criticised how long patients wait, no significant improvement has been made. Rigsrevisionen finds this unsatisfactory. The consequence may be that patients do not receive adequate palliative care, potentially reducing the quality of their final days.
Rigsrevisionen initiated the study in October 2024.
Read the introduction and conclusion (PDF)