The definition of palliative medicine was accepted in the United Kingdom in 1987, when it was recognized as a separate medical specialization. Palliative medicine is a new branch of medicine that studies and treats patients who have active, progressive and advanced disease with limited prognosis. Mission of palliative care is based on fundamental ethical principles and laws of patients rights, which includes equality in access to palliative care, protection of patient dignity and their autonomy in decision making. The duty of members of palliative teams is to relieve patients from pain, suffering and other unpleasant symptoms - all in order to preserve the highest quality of life until the very end. In development of palliative care system, Croatia is considerably late compared to other developed countries and the only legal and organizational framework for its development has been defined in 2012. Since then, the first hospice and palliative departments in public healthcare facilities has been opened. This should provide better quality care for palliative patients and at the same time relieving the acute hospital departments which have been caring for such patients for last few decades in insufficiently appropriate conditions. The purpose of this research is to evaluate if there has been any change in the pre-existing trend of hospitalizing of palliative patients at the acute departments of the university hospital "Sveti Duh", after the Strategic plan for palliative care development in the Republic of Croatia for the period 2014. - 2016. was adopted. The number of patients who died after palliative treatment in four acute departments in 2012 has been compared to 2016. The results do not show a statistically significant difference - in 2012 there were 30 and in 2016, 31 patient who met these criteria. The length of hospitalization in 2012 compared to 2016 was also checked and the frequency of the most common diagnoses, which also did not show a statistically significant difference. Results of this research point out the shortcomings in the implementation of the strategic plan for the development of palliative care, apropos the need to intensify its implementation by establishing palliative departments in all Croatian hospitals appropriate to the plan and patient's needs.