115 Invited Lecture
EU Funded Research Projects And Collaboratives
EPCRC – European Palliative Care Research Collaborative
Authors: Stein Kaasa Palliative Medicine Unit St. Olav’s Hospital NORWAY
repesenting the EPCRC
EPCRC consists of eight participating centres from six European countries
(www.epcrc.org). The collaborative is funded for three years from the end
of 2006 to the end of 2008. The overall objectives are to develop novel
genetic methods for prediction of opioid responses and individual variation
of cachexia, and methods for assessment and classification of pain, cachexia
and depression. (1) To identify genes and genetic variation relevant for
inter-individual variation in opioid responses and genetic variation that may
identify patients at particular risk for developing cachexia; (2) To improve
classification and assessment of pain, depression and cachexia by computer
assisted approaches; (3) To combine the new knowledge of symptoms,
genomics and assessment in an internet-based system for implementation of
European evidence-based guidelines, which will include standardized
assessment and individualized treatment plans for pain, depression and
cachexia; (4) To develop a long lasting European Collaborative in palliative
care cancer research. The work plan is followed according to the document
of work and an updated presentation of the recent research findings will be
given at this symposium.

116 Invited Lecture
EU Funded Research Projects and Collaboratives
OPCARE Optimising Cancer Patient Care
Presenting author of different from first author:
Authors: John Ellershaw Marie Curie Hospice Liverpool Marie Curie
Palliative Care Institute Liverpool UNITED KINGDOM
Through the extension of an existing collaboration of colleagues working in
end of life care across Europe and beyond, the 3 year project aims to
explore, share and collate current knowledge and practice in each of the key
themes identified within the work programme: Signs and symptoms of
approaching death; End of life decisions; Complementary comfort care;
Psychological and Psychosocial support to patients, families and caretakers;
Voluntary Service; with the specific aim of improving care for cancer
patients in the last days of life. It aims to reach consensus on the optimum
care to be delivered in this phase, to identify gaps in the knowledge and
develop innovative research protocols to address those gaps and to make
recommendations for the further development of the Liverpool Care
Pathway for the Dying Patient (LCP) Framework in an international context.
Methodologies: Within the 5 domains the following will be undertaken:
– A systematic review of the published and unpublished literature; – An
adapted Delphi Method to identify and evaluate current clinical approaches.
A series of 7, 3 day colloquiums are planned to facilitate further discussion
and sharing of findings, including one workshop of external ‘experts’
and a final international conference. Dissemination: The outputs of this
project will be of interest to patients and carers, healthcare professionals
and organisations, researchers, providers of education and national and
international policy makers. A variety of media will be used to disseminate
the findings: – Publications in peer reviewed journals, conferences, workshops,
seminars, symposiums. The diversity of country of origin of the 9
partners will ensure exposure of the findings in national and international
forums. It is envisaged that the current collaboration will continue to work
together to undertake research projects identified by this work.

117 Invited Lecture
EU Funded Research Projects And Collaboratives
PRISMA reflecting the positive diversities of European priorities
for research and measurement in end of life care
Authors: Richard Harding Palliative Care and Policy King’s College
London UNITED KINDDOM
Barbara Gomes King’s College London London UNITED KINDDOM
Marjolein Gysels King’s College London London UNITED KINDDOM
Stein Kaasa St. Olavs Hospital, Palliative Medicine Unit Trondheim
NORWAY
Claudia Bausewein King’s College London London UNITED KINDDOM
P Lopes Ferreira King’s College London London UNITED KINDDOM
Luc Deliens Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam-VUMC Amsterdam NETHERLANDS
N Derycke Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam-VUMC Amsterdam NETHERLANDS
Irene Higginson King’s College London London UNITED KINDDOM
Background: There is a lack of co-ordination for collaborative international
high quality research in end of life cancer care. Main reasons include: a
lack of agreement on what constitutes end of life cancer care across Europe,
lack of information on public or clinical priorities for research in Europe to
help funders prioritise, and variations in measurement limiting systematic
reviews, original studies and quality measurements. Aims: “PRISMA” aims
to inform best practice and harmonise research in end of life care for cancer
patients across Europe through comparison and exchange of approaches
and experiences of measurement and research priorities. Objectives: The
work packages will undertake actions to identify cultural differences defining
and shaping end of life care, establish public and clinical priorities, and
draw out current best practice in research and resources in both research and
quality measurements. It will use as a model experiences with outcome
measures currently being by researchers and clinicians in EU and African
countries. By co-ordinating the use of measurement and research practices
in end of life care research across Europe there will be a platform from
which future research can be launched. The value of incorporating wide
public and clinical consultation into the programme is to identify key priorities,
in a field where the need for research is great. The programme will
develop web based resources providing information on best practice for
research measurement and quality improvement and facilitate a long lasting
EU collaborative on end of life cancer care. 11 partners in 8 EC countries,
plus involvement from a Pan-African partner, are participating.

118 Invited Lecture
EU Funded Research Projects And Collaboratives
Best practices in palliative care in Europe
Authors: Kris Vissers The Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre
NETHERLANDS
In cooperation with institutes in seven European countries, an international
study takes place in order to describe ‘best practices in palliative care’ in
Europe. The project is financed by PHEA (Public Health programme of the
EU). The project is coordinated by Kris Vissers (Netherlands). Partners are
from the Netherlands, Belgium (Johan Menten), UK (Sam Ahmedzai),
Spain (Xavier Gomez-Batiste), Germany (Eberhard Klaschik), France
(Jean-Marc Mollard) and Poland (Wojciech Leppert). The project runs
from October 2007 till October 2010. Although several European countries
have national initiatives regarding best practices for palliative care, attention
to the early initiation of palliative care and the adoption of an integrated
approach is largely lacking. International differences also exist in health
care organisation, moral attitudes towards palliative care, expectations,
services, terminology, treatment, perceptions, legal embedding and funding
of the care (Higginson, 2005). The availability of quality of palliative
care indicators and assessment instruments will help patients, family caregivers,
care providers, policy makers and ministries of health to evaluate
the care provided. An internationally valid, reliable and feasible set of indicators
and assessment instruments are also needed to describe, compare
and improve the palliative care available in Europe and strive towards ‘best
practices in palliative care.’ Objectives: 1) to describe the different models
for the delivery of palliative care in the participating European countries;
2) to make an inventory of those multidisciplinary guidelines and indicators
concerned with the early initiation of palliative care and adoption of an
integrated approach to the delivery of palliative care; 3) to establish a set
of quality indicators for the early initiation and integrated delivery of
palliative care for subsequent validation in an international consensus procedure
(written Rand-Delphi procedure) involving patients, family caregivers,
clinicians and payers/insurers (i.e. identification of a core set of
indicators common to all of the participating countries and countryspecific
indicators); and 4) to identify best practices with regard to the
early initiation and integrated delivery of palliative care using the core set
of indicators. Methods: literature review, qualitative study, modified Rand
Delphi procedure, practice test.