• E A Lux, A Althaus, B Classen, H Hilscher, U Hofmeister, P Holtappels, R Mansfeld-Nies, and H U Weller.
• MMW Fortschr Med. 2013 Jul 25; 155 Suppl 2: 44-50.

BackgroundOn 2009-04-01 the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians Westfalia-Lippe and health insurance organizations made an agreement to implement palliative home care for terminally ill patients. Based on this agreement, family doctors and palliativecardoctorscooperate,supported by coordinators.Method12 and 36 months after coming into effect of the agreement a questionnaire was sent to the regional palliative care networks to collect data about supply structure, number of patients and their place of death.ResultsIn the year 2011 85,410 people died in Westfalia-Lippe, 9.0% of them were included in palliative care structures. 69.5% of the included patients died at home, 9.9% in hospital (in 2010: 68.7% at home, 14.7% in hospital). A correlation between the population density or the number of included patients per palliative networkcould not be detected.ConclusionLow-threshold access to palliative care networks(bothfamilydoctorand patientcancontact the palliative care team at any time) improves ambulant palliative care. Non-bureaucratic change from general home palliative care (German abbreviation: AAPV) to specialized home palliative care (SAPV) has proven successful in Westfalia-Lippe. Well-trained and experienced coordinators guarantee multidisciplinary and multiprofessional working of palliative care teams. In order to enhance palliative care in Westfalia-Lippe, data for quality assurance should be defined, periodically collected and evaluated in the future.

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