Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Palliative Care in Cancer Patients in Spain.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has severely affected healthcare organizations worldwide, and the provision of palliative care (PC) to cancer patients has been no exception. The aim of this paper was to analyse the levels of health care provided by the Clinical Management Unit for PC in Córdoba (Spain) for cancer patients. a retrospective cohort study was conducted. It analyzed the PC internal management database including all cancer patients treated in the period of 2018-2021. 1967 cases were studied. There was a drop in cancer cases (p = 0.008), deaths at the PC hospital (p The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a challenge in the management of patients requiring PC and has highlighted the urgent needs of the healthcare system if it is to continue providing a level of care which meets the needs of patients and their families.