How can we care for people at the end of life together?

Prof. Voltz guided two inspiring rounds of discussion at the World Café table from the project “Last Year of Life Cologne” concerning “Cologne as a caring community”. The discussion participants underlined the well-developed care structures for people at the end of life, for example, the network of general and specialized palliative care or volunteering. Among the issues raised, was the need to improve the appropriate use of resources. It is not always possible to reach vulnerable patients due to limited possibilities to make home visits, skills shortage, and so on. Also, a lack of coordination is a problem, which often wastes valuable time. The health insurances and administrations should be more involved in the improvement of care. Many discussion participants expressed the desire for a central contact person in a district who coordinates care.

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