title: Bereaved carers' views of a hospice at home service.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In recent years, there has been an increase in specialist palliative care services in the home. Despite this, there have been relatively few published evaluations of such care.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a qualitative study which used semistructured interviews to explore bereaved carers' views and experiences of a hospice at home (HAH) service in the East Midlands, UK. Eleven interviews were conducted and analysis followed the framework approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Carers' views were divided into four themes: caring for someone at home; formal care provided by HAH; access to out-of-hours care; and provision of specialist equipment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bereaved carers generally gave very positive accounts on care delivered by the HAH service. Shortcomings identified were the provision of out-of-hours care and the untimely supply and removal of specialist equipment. It is suggested that bereaved carers provide useful insights for qualitative evaluations of end-of-life services delivered in the home.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Services Research, School of Population and Health Sciences University of Newcastle, 21 Claremont Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. catherine.exley@ncl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Exley
authors.forename: Freya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tyrer
mesh_terms: D039602:After-Hours Care / Q000592:standards; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001601:Bereavement; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D004645:Empathy; D004739:England; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000592:standards; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000592:standards*; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D015397:Program Evaluation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires