International Research

 

ATOME (Access to Opioid Medication in Europe)
For more information contact: Dr Tom Lynch

ATOME (Access to Opioid Medication in Europe) is an EU-funded project for the improvement of access to opioids for medical and scientific use in 12 European countries. The target countries of the ATOME project are: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, and Cyprus.  The target countries of the ATOME project have been selected based on statistical evidence of their very low morphine per capita consumption as an indicator for low levels of pain medication use.
With a commitment of 2.45 million Euro over five years from the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme, the ten ATOME partners will work with the country teams, including government officials and public health and medicine experts, to carry out legislative and policy reviews, leading to recommendations that will facilitate access for all patients requiring treatment with medicines controlled under the international drug conventions. The ten partner organizations are:

Palliative care

  • Department of Palliative Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Germany;
  • Hospice Casa Sperantei, Brasov, Romania;
  • Help the Hospices, London, United Kingdom;
  • International Observatory on End of Life Care, Lancaster University, United Kingdom;
  • European Association for Palliative Care, Milan, Italy;

Law/Health policy

  • World Health Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland;
  • University Utrecht, The Netherlands;

Harm reduction

  • Eurasian Harm reduction Network, Vilnius, Lithuania;
  • National Anti Drug Agency, Bucharest, Romania;
  • International Harm Reduction Association, Melbourne, Australia/London, United Kingdom.

The integration of palliative care and harm reduction is a key aim of the project, from which it is hoped the following principles will arise:

  • The principle of balance in drug control policy;
  • Governments not only have an obligation to prevent drug abuse but also to ensure the availability of opioid analgesics for medical purposes;
  • Efforts to prevent drug abuse and diversion must not interfere with the adequate availability of medication for patients' pain relief and drug substitution therapy;

A further aim of the project is that opioids for medical use and harm reduction must be:

  • Available;
  • Accessible;
  • Affordable
Applicants: Professor Sheila Payne, Dr Thomas Lynch, Anthony Greenwood
Funded by: European Community Seventh Framework Programme
Project start date: November 2009
Project end date: November 2014
Resources: ATOME Website
International Observatory on End-of-Life Care Country Reports
For more information contact: Dr Tom Lynch

A key programme within the work of the International Observatory on End-of-Life Care has focussed on mapping the development of hospice and palliative care services around the world, and particularly in resource-poor settings. Our team of researchers and collaborators carry out this work using a common template for each country, thereby allowing effective comparison between countries and regions. Data is gathered from many sources. Field visits are carried out whenever possible and a strong emphasis is placed on the use of interviews with key activists.

Since 2003, IOELC have prepared over 60 Country Reports using an innovative methodology based on a synthesis of public health, demographic and ethnographic information from key stakeholders to map palliative care developments globally.  This information has been extensively cited in international documents and influences strategic policy initiatives.
Applicants: Professor Sheila Payne, Dr Thomas Lynch, Anthony Greenwood
Funded by: Open Society Institute
Project start date: 2003
Project end date: Ongoing
Resources:

Survey of the roles and education of psychologists working in palliative care

Investigators: Saskia Junger, Eva Eggenberger, Sheila Payne
British Psychological Society

Following an invited workshop at the ANTEA conference in Rome in November 2008, Professor Sheila Payne and Dr Saskia Junger (University of Aachen) established the EAPC Taskforce on Education for Psychologists in Palliative Care in March 2009. It aimed to recommend a core curriculum for psychologists. To undertake this work an international survey was designed to elicit the work experiences and education of psychologists. The questionnaire was developed and pilot tested over the summer and the online survey conducted in autumn 2009. Initial analysis indicates a response of over 300 from 30 countries. Data will be analysed over the winter.

The EAPC Task Force on Family Carers

Invetigators: Sheila Payne, Peter Hudson (Australia)
EAPC

The EAPC Task Force on Family Carers was established in October 2008. It has the following initial working party lead by Professor Sheila Payne (UK) and Dr Peter Hudson (Australia) including: Professor Carol Tishelman, Dr Carl-Johan Fürst, Tove Bylund Grenklo (Sweden); Professor Phillip Larkin (Ireland); Dr Sabine Pleschberger (Austria) and Dr Gunn Grande, Dr Gail Ewing, David Oliviere, Pam Firth (UK). The working party will ensure that where pertinent there is a suitable level of engagement with relevant European clinicians, academics and managers in order to progress the taskforce objectives.

The EAPC Task Force on Family Carers is collaborating closely with the International Palliative Care Family Carer Research Collaboration (IPCFRC) The IPCFRC seeks to develop a strategic approach to palliative care research planning related to family carers of people requiring palliative care via establishing international partnerships and promoting information exchange. The IPCFRC operates under the auspices of the European Association for Palliative Care, but actively considers formal collaborations with other institutions (from all continents). A steering committee with representatives from Europe, USA, Canada and Australia oversees the activities of the IPCFRC.

EAPC Task Force on the Development of Palliative Care in Europe

Invetigators: Carlos Centeno, David Clark, Javier Rocafort, Tom Lynch
EAPC

The project is a cooperative effort, established to examine the development of palliative care in Europe, involving the International Observatory on End of Life Care, The University of Navarra, the University of Glasgow, Help the Hospices and the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care. The study covers 52 countries in the WHO European region, assisted by key persons from each country and with the involvement of national associations for palliative care.

EAPC Taskforce on Palliative Care in Long-Term Care Settings for Older People

Investigators: Katherine Froggatt, Elisabeth Reitinger
EAPC

Co-led by Dr Katherine Froggatt (Lancaster, UK) and Dr Elisabeth Reitinger, Vienna, Austria).

The Taskforce was constituted between 2010 and 2012 and aimed to identify and map the different ways of developing palliative care in long term care settings for older people across a number of European countries.

You will find more information on this project within these pages. Click here to be taken to this page.

A final report is now available at the EAPC website.

Country Reports

A key programme within the work of the Observatory focussed on mapping the development of hospice and palliative care services around the world, and particularly in resource-poor settings. Our team of researchers and collaborators carried out this work using a common template for each country, thereby allowing effective comparison between countries and regions. Data was gathered from many sources. Field visits were carried out whenever possible and we placed a strong emphasis on the use of interviews with key activists.

We present data here on 66 countries in the portable document format (PDF). This remains a unique collection of material with reports stemming from 2003 to 2008.

You can quickly gain access to our individual country reports, in PDF format, by clicking on either of the two listing options under the Country Reports Database box at the right of this page.

 

International News
InSup-C: a new EUFP7 research grant for the Observatory
Professor Sheila Payne, Dr Nancy Preston and Anthony Greenwood (DHR) from the International Observatory on End of Life Care, are part of a consortium which has been awarded European Commission funding (Euros 2,911.593) under the Framework Programme 7.
Chair appointment in Kazakhstan
Dr Tom Lynch has been appointed as Honorary/Visiting Professor of Palliative Care at the Kazakhstan School of Public Health.
Research Activity on this page
Country Reports Database

Both links above will take you to an external site

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External Activity Links
Lancaster Alumni

‘Steps’, Lancaster University's alumni magazine, can be viewed by clicking here.

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