Journal of palliative medicine
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Background: A key issue in the development of population-based access to palliative care is identification of appropriate patients. Objective: To evaluate the NECPAL (NECesidades Paliativas) tool to identify unmet palliative care needs in the Czech Republic in regional hospitals of the Vysocina region. Methods: We used the End-of-Life care information system (ELFis) to evaluate prognostication to aid the identification of palliative care needs. ⋯ Results: Our results demonstrate that the NECPAL tool successfully identified palliative care needs in specifically prepared clinical environment. An important part of this is a support of main stakeholders and an effective leadership. Conclusion: An unexpected finding was the role that leadership played in testing the tool, and very short time (10 months) needed for statistically visible changes in a regional system of care.