Keegan, OrlaMcGee, HannahBrady, ThereseSt James's Hospital. Palliative Care Service.Irish Hospice Foundation.Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Department of Psychology. Health Services Resource Centre.2013-01-072013-01-071999-02http://hdl.handle.net/10147/264381While 66% of all Irish deaths take place in hospitals or institutions, 80% of patients with terminal illness spend most of the last year of life at home. The World Health Organisation (1990) defines palliative care as: the active total care of patients and their families by a multi-professional team when the patient's disease is no longer responsive to curative treatment. A high proportion of health care for people near to death will be provided by health professionals other than palliative care specialists. The principles of palliative care should therefore pervade clinical practice across all health care settings The hospital based palliative care service at Saint James's Hospital was set up in April 1996 as a hospital-based palliative care service with expertise in advising on pain and symptom control, offering support to patients and relatives and educating general hospital staff in the principles of palliative care The present study describes the health service experience of patients who died in the care of Saint James's Hospital; a large 720 bedded urban teaching hospital with over 800 in-hospital deaths per year It compares the experiences of those who did or did not receive palliative care as part of their treatment. The study aims to describe the experience of death and bereavement in a contemporary urban hospital setting, to consider the role of a specialist palliative care service within that system and to make evidence-based recommendations to optimise quality of care for dying patients and their families.enPALLIATIVE CAREHOSPITALStudy