OPCARE9 - A European collaboration to optimise research for the care of cancer patients

OPCARE9 Consortium

Who is involved?

The countries represented within the proposed consortium are diverse in terms of their history, culture and the organisation of their healthcare services, particularly care of the dying. The collaboration is effectively an extension of an already successful collaboration of clinicians and researchers that developed through a joint interest and expertise in care of the dying. The main thrust of collaboration has, to date, been around the translation of the LCP into different languages and for use in different healthcare cultures. Undertaking such work has illustrated a need to understand more about the final days of life from a patient, carer and healthcare perspective in a variety of healthcare settings, in a variety of healthcare cultures. The members of the collaboration for this project have a successful track record of research, service improvement, management and clinical expertise in this area of care and are thus well placed to engage in the planned rigorous evaluation of current evidence and practice to underpin improvements in the quality of care for cancer patients in the last days of life.

Representation on National and European Bodies

Many individuals from within all beneficiary institutions are represented at the highest national level and are well placed to influence policy and practice. Some examples include :

Germany - founding member of the German Palliative Care Society and Vice President of the European Association of Palliative Care.
Switzerland - co-president of the Swiss Society for Palliative Care, National Lead for the Quality Program in Palliative Care, National Task Force for Integrated Cancer Care (ONCOSUISSE).
Italy - represented on the Ministry of Health study group looking at problems in the development of palliative care in Italy and of the board of the Italian Association of Palliative Care.
UK - the National Clinical Lead for Palliative Care (Specialist) within the Department of Health's End of Life Care Programme.
Slovenia - President of the National Expert Committee for Palliative Care at the Ministry of Health.
Sweden - Swedish National Council of Palliative Care (Chair).
Argentina - Pallium member has been appointed chair of the research branch of the Latin American Palliative Care Association (ALCP).

In addition to this high international profile, many members across the collaboration have been or are still involved in various European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) Taskforce initiatives (eg. Switzerland, Italy, UK, Argentina, Germany), in fact, the current Vice President of the EAPC is a member of the German collaborating group. The Assistant Director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Center for Cancer Pain in Palliative Care is a member of the Italian group and our Swiss colleagues are working in collaboration with the European School for Medical Oncology (ESMO).

Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool