Within a health district, the introduction of a symptom control team (SCT) as a home care service was followed by a transient increase in home deaths and a transient decrease in hospital deaths. The introduction of a hospice was followed by a decrease in hospital deaths and an initial downward trend in home deaths which reversed after the third year. The SCT and hospice are involved in 43-47% of all cancer deaths, and over 50% of deaths involving the SCT occur at home. A future role for the increased involvement of services in the hospital rather than at home is identified, with current figures showing a 70% involvement in home deaths but only a 43% involvement in institution deaths.
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