Palliative home care: improving co-operation between the specialist team and the family doctor

The aim of this study is to ascertain family doctors' opinions of the home care services dispensed by a specialist palliative care team. Fifty-six doctors responded to the questionnaire they had been sent. Ninety-four per cent of them were satisfied with the team's intervention. The highest satisfaction ratings were those for the provision of specialist medical equipment, technical competence and medical support. The lowest ratings were for information coming from the team and for recognition of the practitioner as the primary carer. Among these items, information, regard for the doctor's role and medical support are closely correlated to the practitioners' overall index of satisfaction. The palliative care team answered a mirror questionnaire. It found its availability, its speed of intervention, its technical competence, and its regard for the doctor's role very satisfactory. It was less satisfied with the information, medical support and psychosocial support it provided. Its centres of interest also differed, with the team clearly attributing greater importance to psychosocial support than to technical competence, regard for the role, and information to the practitioner. In conclusion, a survey of this type is a useful and easy way of identifying the aspects that need to be improved on by the palliative care team so as to improve its co-operation with the family physician. But it is of interest only if it forms part of an overall approach whereby, having taken the survey results on board, the team uses them to modify its intervention procedures.