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Background: Palliative care day services provide a safe environment for people with palliative care needs, enabling them to access a range of services while acting as a respite services for family caregivers. Viewed as marginal services, they are often under resourced and under researched. The aim of this study was to understand how palliative day care services contribute to client care from the perspective of management and hospice multidisciplinary teams. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study, using six focus groups conducted with staff at three United Kingdom hospices in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Thirty-five participants were recruited, including management and staff. Discussions were transcribed and analysed thematically. Results: Four key themes emerged: (1) variations of care, beyond heterogeneity of patients; (2) unclear referrals and inconsistent patient population; (3) recognising strengths and challenges and (4) an uncertain future. A major focus of group discussions was the model of care and the benefits of the service, however the importance of demonstrating services' effectiveness and value for money was highlighted. Conclusions: Management and hospice staff believed day-services to be a helpful introduction to palliative care, providing both social and medical support. Economic pressures and patient demand were influencing them to move from a social model to a hybrid model. Further research is needed to understand the effectiveness of the service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research is vital to the future development of hospice care. However, research in hospice settings is very challenging. This paper describes a case study of a successful multidisciplinary research team approach (MDRT) to the recruitment of participants (hospice patients, family members and health professionals) for a study in a hospice setting on the economic evaluation of end-of-life care. A successful recruitment plan includes three key strategies: identifying key members of the MDRT early in the research process; having a clear and constant communication stream; and creating an environment where all team members have a shared commitment to the research, all voices are heard and valued, and everyone contributes to the research aims. An MDRT approach will be helpful to guide the development of successful recruitment plans for academic-community research partnerships in the hospice setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]