Table 4. Use of specialist palliative care services by country; % (95% CI), n.
| Specialist palliative care service* | Belgium | Netherlands | Italy | Spain | p-value† |
| N = 1604 | N = 635 | N = 1839 | N = 388 | ||
| Hospice/palliative care unit | 11 (10 to 13) | 14 (11 to 17) | 8 (6 to 9) | 17 (13 to 21) | <.001 |
| 174 | 83 | 132 | 66 | ||
| Palliative care service for patientsstaying at home | 16 (14 to 18) | 5 (4 to 7) | 24 (22 to 26) | 29 (24 to 33) | <.001 |
| 250 | 32‖ | 418 | 111 | ||
| GP with formal palliative care training | 12 (10 to 15) | ¶ | |||
| § | 74 | § | § | ||
| In-house palliative care service in anursing home | 16 (14 to 17) | 5 (1 to 8) | <.07‡ | ||
| 239 | § | § | 21 | ||
| Hospital-based palliative care service (excl. palliative care unit) | 12 (10 to 13) | 1 (0.4 to 2) | 11 (10 to 13) | <.001 | |
| 179 | 8‖ | 196 | § |
CI = confidence interval.
Percentages are within-country percentages. Percentages are rounded and thus may not add up to 100.
Missing values: specialist palliative care n = 191 (4.3%).
Palliative care categories are not mutually exclusive.
p-values are based on multivariate analyses adjusted for age, sex, cause and place of death.
Statistically significant in bivariate analysis.
Palliative care initiative not present in this country.
Palliative care consultation teams in the Netherlands provide services to people at home and in hospital. Our data do not hold information as to where the patients received this service.
Comparison between countries not possible.