There is relatively wide palliative care coverage in some major cities and well populated regions of central and northern Israel. In spite of the existing range of services, however, there is considerable concern about the shortfall in palliative care provision, particularly in remote, rural areas of the country, but also in large population centres, such as around the Tel Aviv region. Although many people at the end of life may have access to supportive care from one of the 80 community health services throughout the country, only a small proportion (relative to needs of the population) have access to one of the 27 specialist home hospital-based or inpatient hospice services.

Central Israel

In central Israel there are 5 specialist palliative care services for adults and four centres supporting children. Four of the 5 available services can only care for cancer patients:

• four of these services are based in Jerusalem (with a combined city and district catchment population 829,800);⁷⁴
• Tel Aviv (with a combined city and district catchment population 1,177,300) has one specialist service for adults with cancer; three centres support children. Only an estimated 15 – 20% of the population has access to specialist services. Supportive care for adults is offered via hospital and community services.

Southern Israel

There is one specialist service in the south that provides coverage in 3 cities and some of the surrounding desert region including:

• Beersheva, the capital city of the Negev Desert, with a catchment population of about 180,000 people.
• Rahat, a Bedouin city, providing for a population of around 32,000. A palliative care team cares for patients in the city and in the neighbouring Jewish kibbutzim outside the city.
• Qiryat Gat, a city 50kms to the north of Beersheva with a population estimated at 50,000. A team cares for patients in the city and those living within a radius of around 20-30 minutes drive from the city.
• The mobile palliative care unit provides coverage for the Bedouin people living in remote settlements up to 40 – 50kms south of Beersheva in the desert region.⁷⁵

Northern Israel

There are 3 home care hospices in the north; one service provides coverage in Nazareth with a catchment population of 350,000.⁷⁶ In the Upper Galilee and northern Golan Heights areas another service based in the small town of Rosh Pina covers a catchment population in the region of 150,000;⁷⁷ in Kiryat Tivon one service provides coverage for the population of 14,000.⁷⁸ There are two hospital based services in Haifa, the largest northern city (with a combined city and district catchment population 852,600).⁷⁹

Palliative care in Israel is focused on patients with cancer. In 2004 a study of palliative care services in Israel conducted by Dr Netta Bentur at the Myers-JDC Brookdale Institute, Jerusalem, estimated around 95% of all palliative care patients have cancer. Only 5% of patients with other illnesses have access to one of the 4 specialist palliative care services able to care for them.  In 2004, only an estimated 2,000 cancer patients received specialist hospice care of the total new cases of 15,000 cancer patients that year, many of whom would benefit from these services.⁸⁰