Of the 70 patients cared for, 61.4% were men and 36.8% were women, with a mean age of 76.79 years old. In 62.9% of the cases the main carer was the spouse. More than half (60%) of the families did not have any public or private social support network, and their level of dependency was found to be severe to moderate in 75.7% of cases.
A home-based palliative care social welfare programme in the Basque Country. The Saiatu experience
 
  Keywords
 
 
  
   Palliative care
  
 
 
  
   Home care services
  
 
 
  
   Death at home
  
 
Background.
Saiatu is a programme that offers a specially trained in-home social welfare assistance to improve the delivery of care for people with advanced and terminal illness, and their families. 
The following is a presentation of a study carried out following 17 months of work, showing the characteristics of those patients cared for, the place of death, and facts relating to Saiatu's daily activity.

Method.
A cross-sectional, observational descriptive study was conducted in the region of Gipuzkoa.

Population of study: Patients cared for by Saiatu between 1 February 2011 and 30 June 2012.

Inclusion Criteria: Patients who had died before 30 June 2012.

Sample: The whole patient population (70 patients).

Variables and sources of information: Records of identification of patient and main carer, health care information, and date of admission into Saiatu.

Results.
Of the 70 patients cared for, 61.4% were men and 36.8% were women, with a mean age of 76.79 years old. 
In 62.9% of the cases the main carer was the spouse. 
More than half (60%) of the families did not have any public or private social support network, and their level of dependency was found to be severe to moderate in 75.7% of cases.

The large majority (88.6%) of the patients were oncological, and the remainder were non-oncological. 
The majority of cases, 37.1%, were referrals from hospitalisation at home.

Of the 92% who had expressed the wish to die at home, 71.4% had that wish fulfilled. 
However of those who died in hospital, 65% had expressed the wish to die at home. 
Overall 79% died in the place they had previously expressed.

It was observed that age, <dis>dysphagia</dis> and emotional concerns were associated with death at home, whilst anorexia was related to death in hospital.

Background.
Saiatu is a programme that offers a specially trained in-home social welfare assistance to improve the delivery of care for people with advanced and terminal illness, and their families. 
The following is a presentation of a study carried out following 17 months of work, showing the characteristics of those patients cared for, the place of death, and facts relating to Saiatu's daily activity.

Method.
A cross-sectional, observational descriptive study was conducted in the region of Gipuzkoa.

Population of study: Patients cared for by Saiatu between 1 February 2011 and 30 June 2012.

Inclusion Criteria: Patients who had died before 30 June 2012.

Sample: The whole patient population (70 patients).

Variables and sources of information: Records of identification of patient and main carer, health care information, and date of admission into Saiatu.

Results.
Of the 70 patients cared for, 61.4% were men and 36.8% were women, with a mean age of 76.79 years old. 
In 62.9% of the cases the main carer was the spouse. 
More than half (60%) of the families did not have any public or private social support network, and their level of dependency was found to be severe to moderate in 75.7% of cases.

The large majority (88.6%) of the patients were oncological, and the remainder were non-oncological. 
The majority of cases, 37.1%, were referrals from hospitalisation at home.

Of the 92% who had expressed the wish to die at home, 71.4% had that wish fulfilled. 
However of those who died in hospital, 65% had expressed the wish to die at home. 
Overall 79% died in the place they had previously expressed.

It was observed that age, dysphagia and emotional concerns were associated with death at home, whilst anorexia was related to death in hospital.

Of the 70 patients cared for, 61.4% were men and 36.8% were women, with a mean age of 76.79 years old. In 62.9% of the cases the main carer was the spouse. More than half (60%) of the families did not have any public or private social support network, and their level of dependency was found to be severe to moderate in 75.7% of cases.