• Catherine Exley and Freya Tyrer.
• Centre for Health Services Research, School of Population and Health Sciences University of Newcastle, 21 Claremont Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. catherine.exley@ncl.ac.uk
• Int J Palliat Nurs. 2005 May 1;11(5):242-6.

IntroductionIn recent years, there has been an increase in specialist palliative care services in the home. Despite this, there have been relatively few published evaluations of such care.MethodsThis is a qualitative study which used semistructured interviews to explore bereaved carers' views and experiences of a hospice at home (HAH) service in the East Midlands, UK. Eleven interviews were conducted and analysis followed the framework approach.ResultsCarers' views were divided into four themes: caring for someone at home; formal care provided by HAH; access to out-of-hours care; and provision of specialist equipment.ConclusionsBereaved carers generally gave very positive accounts on care delivered by the HAH service. Shortcomings identified were the provision of out-of-hours care and the untimely supply and removal of specialist equipment. It is suggested that bereaved carers provide useful insights for qualitative evaluations of end-of-life services delivered in the home.

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