A new study has revealed that Portugal is bottom of a table of palliative care facilities.
The president of the Portuguese Society of Oncology (SPO), Ricardo Luz, said that Portugal is still “very poor with regard to end of life care”.
In a study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, entitled ‘Quality of Death’, which examined 40 countries, Portugal comes last regarding palliative care resources and the number of patients who have access to long-term hospice care.
Ricardo Luz told Portuguese Lusa news agency: “This rating indicates that not enough is being done in relation to continuous care and access to palliative care in the country.
“Palliative care is still quite poor in the country, especially in the most populated regions.”
He said Portugal needs to improve access to palliative care and pain management and provide quality end of life for terminally-ill patients.
