Vulnerable Populations and Palliative Care Central Region Palliative Care Network 18th July 2012

Vulnerable Populations One Definition: Groups whose needs are not addressed by traditional service providers or who feel they cannot comfortably or safely access and use the standard resources offered… Today’s Education Forum has a focus on vulnerable populations and palliative care. What do we mean by vulnerable populations? One definition… Groups whose needs are not addressed by traditional service providers or who feel they cannot comfortably or safely access and use the standard resources offered These groups could be ethnicity based, age based, sex based, etc Today’s programme focuses particularly on understanding and addressing needs for Maori.

National Health Needs Assessment for Palliative Care (PCC, 2011) The following data presented in the National Health Needs Assessment of Palliative Care Phase 1 Report illustrates the proportion of deaths by age group for four main ethnic groups in NZ and clearly illustrates the different patterns of mortality across these groups. While this paints a disquieting picture of health for these people, it also raises the importance of not only having culturally appropriate palliative and end-of-life care services, but also ensuring services take account of the younger age at death of these ethnic groups. It should be noted, however, that the actual number of deaths in these ethnic groups is considerably smaller than for the rest of the population, except in the under 10 age group. Nonetheless, certain DHBs with larger population groups of Måori, Pacific and Asian people can expect a proportionally higher number of these people needing palliative and end-of-life care. Hospices in the region have commenced a benchmarking programme which compares data across a number of indicators including the ethnicity of patients accessing their services. Initial analysis indicates that Maori are under- represented in these access statistics.

The Uneven Playing Field The sense is that like many other areas of health there is an uneven playing field in the area of palliative care which must be addressed if we are going to deliver equity. Today’s presentations will cover a range of topics including research into culturally appropriate services and health literacy and service development aimed at improving services for Maori. There will also be an introduction to the Health Equity Assessment Tool (HEAT) which can be used to identify if particular activities will address equity issues. This afternoon we broaden out our focus to look at a nursing workforce model which could be applied to a palliative care setting and hear updates on some key national initiatives. Our first speaker this morning is…………………..