People with cancer have the right to expect the best possible treatment and care

Abstract

Planning care for the patient who has cancer in his own home is at the same time similar, yet profoundly different from planning care for the patient in hospital. The similarity arises out of the diagnosis and prognosis. The difference lies in the intermittent nature of home nursing as opposed to the continuity of hospital care. Although professional care is enlisted, the bulk of the care will be given by nonprofessionals, such as the patient's family and friends. Hospital doctors do not identify the same sort of goals for terminally ill patients as their hospice and their nursing colleagues in general hospitals (Lunt, 1985). They rarely include the needs of relatives in their plans and have a much smaller range of goals. Therefore, they need to be encouraged to participate with other team members and to listen to the views of their multi-disciplinary colleagues. Everyone who is responsible for discharging a patient into the community must be aware of the appropriate services that can be provided.