Tenerife's home palliative care programme has completed its island-wide rollout, meaning patients in all basic health districts can now access the specialist service.

Almost 500 patients have already received palliative care in their own homes since the programme was launched in Tenerife, and the service is now available across every health district on the island.

The programme was originally launched in October 2024 in Santiago del Teide and Guía de Isora, before being progressively extended to other parts of the island.

The Canary Islands Ministry of Health confirmed that the final outstanding areas in the metropolitan zone have now been incorporated, completing coverage across Tenerife.

Specialist team of 17 healthcare professionals

The Home Palliative Care programme is operated by Tenerife's Primary Healthcare Management department and currently has a specialist team of 17 professionals. This includes eight doctors, eight nurses and one social worker.

A dedicated telephone service is also available to deal with questions from patients and their families concerning symptoms, treatment and changes in their clinical condition.

The service currently focuses on cancer patients who require palliative care and works in coordination with local health centres, out-of-hospital emergency services and specialist hospital palliative care teams.

These include teams at the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria and the Hospital Universitario de Canarias.

Helping patients remain at home

One of the main objectives of the programme is to allow patients to remain in familiar surroundings whenever their medical condition makes this possible, rather than requiring them to stay in hospital to receive appropriate palliative support.

Healthcare professionals can provide assistance with symptom control, adjust treatments as a patient's condition changes, and offer ongoing support to both patients and their families.

Providing this care at home can also help maintain continuity between patients, their local health centres and specialist hospital teams during what can be an extremely difficult period for families.

Programme could be expanded further

The Ministry of Health says the completion of the Tenerife rollout is not expected to be the final stage of the programme.

Health authorities intend to work towards extending the home-care model beyond oncology to include other patients with advanced chronic illnesses who have palliative care needs and could benefit from receiving specialist treatment and support at home.

The expansion would allow more people with serious and advanced illnesses to remain in their normal environment while continuing to receive coordinated medical and nursing care.