Specialist palliative care describes services whose main activity is the provision of palliative care. These services generally care for patients with complex and difficult needs and therefore require a higher level of education, staff, and other resources.
Specialist palliative care is provided by specialized services for patients with complex problems not adequately covered by other treatment options.
All patients with progressive incurable diseases should have access to specialist palliative care services, which address proactively all the symptoms of their condition and the effect these symptoms have on them and their families/carers. Patients with complex palliative care needs require a wide range of therapeutic interventions for symptom control. The relevant specialist palliative care provider must have access to the necessary level of trained staff to safely manage these interventions.
Specialist palliative care services require a team approach, combining a multi-professional team with an interdisciplinary mode of work.
Team members must be highly qualified, and palliative care should be their main focus of work.

Radbruch L, Payne S and the Board of Directors of the EAPC. EAPC update. White Paper on standards and norms for hospice and palliative care in Europe: part 1. European Journal of Palliative Care, 2009; 16(6).