News

Today, 3 December, is International Day of People with a Disability.

The European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) in 2015 released a White Paper on providing palliative care to people with intellectual disabilities in Europe.

A more recent discussion about the development of the White Paper gave unique insights into the challenges of collaboration and consultation.

In consulting across Europe the authors noted that professionals in Eastern and Southern Europe were more likely to report that palliative care was not available to people with intellectual disabilities in their country, or that they simply did not know what happened to people with intellectual disabilities at the end of their lives.

The White Paper made a number of recommendations including that palliative care services actively reach out to the local population of people with intellectual disabilities, and that palliative care services create a community of practice across interested organisations and advocacy groups to exchange ideas and best practice in relation to palliative care and people with disabilities.

Click here for the discussion paper (EAPC Update).