Perspectief 2020-48

52 Kateryna Biletska MA Perspectief 223 inpatient hospices. In the Netherlands where the population is over 17 million, there are 24 hospices, while in Ukraine, with a population of 44 million, there are only 7 inpatient hospices. The general number of services providing palliative care in those countries also differs significantly (Great Britain - 810 services, the Netherlands – 150, and Ukraine - 66 64 ). The United Kingdom, starting with the date of appearance of the modern hospice move- ment, has remained the leader in the provision of holistic support to incurable patients and their family members. Both institutions and volunteers join their efforts to meet the varying needs of the relatives in this country. In the Netherlands, volunteers play a key role in providing support to caregivers. In Ukraine, support is provided to relatives in a rather fragmentary way, however, the same as in Britain, both institutional organizations, and volunteers join their efforts. Common to all three states is that women provide the majority of care for terminally ill relatives (UK - 58%, Netherlands - 58.9%, Ukraine - 70.5%). How- ever, if they are mostly people of pre-retirement age in Great Britain and the Netherlands, then there are working-age citizens in Ukraine. In the United Kingdom about 50% of family carers have a full-time or part-time job, in the Netherlands - more than 60% of caregivers are employed, in Ukraine - almost 70% of relatives continue to work. The majority of British and Dutch people do not have significant financial difficulties, which is directly caused by the terminal disease of their relatives. The financial stability of the terminally ill residents of the Netherlands and their families is based on insurance benefits as well as profits from the considerable employment of carers. The material well-being of British people with ter- minal diseases and their loved ones is not only guaranteed by the work of caregivers, but also by financial support from the government. Even though the majority of Ukrainian carers have to combine work and care for the incurable ill, the financial situation of each second family is still unsatisfactory. There is also about half of the family caregivers in Ukraine who suffer from lack of access to quality multi-professional palliative care. For further development of palliative care provision to incurable patients and relatives in Ukraine, it would, in our opinion, be expedient to borrow the experience of the Nether- lands, and not Britain. In the conditions of limited financing (to compare: GDP per capita in Ukraine amounts to 2,640 $ US, GDP per capita in the Netherlands is 48,223 $ US, GDP per capita in the UK is 39,720$ US 65 ), the use of existing hospital resources can, at least to some extent, reduce the acute need of institutional facilities where palliative care can be