Background: Palliative care is inconsistently integrated into European cancer care, with fragmentation in provision, accessibility, and education leading to avoidable suffering and inefficient use of healthcare resources. There is a need to improve this through a Europe-wide initiative, the Joint Action on Networks of Expertise on Cancer (JANE-2), which builds on the earlier JANE initiative. Within JANE-2, one dedicated work package-6 (WP6) focuses specifically on palliative care.
Methods: JANE-2 spans 42 partners across 26 countries, in a cross-national, co-produced approach. As part of this, palliative care will be systematically appraised, aligned and ultimately transformed through one work package with four distinct tasks including: 1) organization and delivery, 2) digitalized care pathways with patient-reported outcomes, 3) education and competence frameworks, and 4) indicators for monitoring integration, using a "networks-in-networks" model designed for sustainability beyond JANE2.
Outcomes: These will include scoping reviews, expert consultations, and modular surveys to support cross-country mapping.
Conclusions: The palliative care work package within JANE-2 will deliver shared standards, pathways, education, and indicators in a sustainable European Network of Expertise that aims to embed palliative care as an inherent component of cancer care.
Keywords: Cancer; European union; education; health policy; networks; palliative care; patient reported outcome measures; patient-centered care.
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