What is a palliative care team?

Palliative care at home (outpatient) has been strengthened in Germany through the enactment of relevant palliative care laws and the establishment of palliative care infrastructure.

As a result, treatment teams consisting of palliative care physicians and specialized nurses have been formed; these are known as palliative care teams (PCT). Care provided by a palliative care team at home is referred to as specialized outpatient palliative care (SAPV).

Treatment by a palliative care team (SAPV) can be prescribed by a family doctor, another specialist, or an ALS outpatient clinic. The benefit of SAPV care lies in the ability to receive home visits from palliative care nurses and palliative care physicians when close medical supervision (in addition to general palliative care provided by family physicians and ALS outpatient clinics) is no longer sufficient.

The physicians on SAPV teams are, by and large, not neurologists by training—except in rare cases—and are generally not ALS specialists. Therefore, the general goal should be for ALS outpatient clinics and existing care providers (pharmacies, nutrition teams, and medical supply stores) to continue providing care, even if a palliative care team is already making home visits.

In the future, the goal should be to include neurologists with expertise in ALS in palliative care teams or to enable ALS outpatient clinics to provide home visits within the framework of the SAPV structure. This collaboration between ALS outpatient clinics and palliative care teams has so far only occurred in exceptional cases in Germany.