Will palliative care help?

Palliative care is person-centred care that helps people with a progressive, life-limiting illness to live as fully and as comfortably as possible. It’s sometimes called supportive care. The main goal is to help you maintain your quality of life by identifying and dealing with your physical, practical, emotional, cultural, social and spiritual needs. Palliative care also offers support to families and carers.

A team of health professionals, as well as volunteers and carers, work together to offer a range of palliative care services. The services will be tailored to your individual needs, and may include:

• relief of pain and other symptoms such as fatigue, nausea, vomiting, and shortness of breath
• resources such as equipment to aid care at home
• assistance for families to come together to talk about sensitive or complex issues
• links to other services such as home help and financial support
• support for emotional, cultural, social and spiritual concerns
• referrals to respite care services.

Your palliative care may be coordinated by your GP, a palliative care nurse or the specialist palliative care team in your area. Palliative care teams see people with the most complex needs, but they can also advise other health professionals on ways to manage symptoms. Palliative care can be provided in the home, in a hospital, in a palliative care unit or hospice, or in a residential aged care facility. Services vary, because palliative care is different in each state and territory.

For more on this, see Palliative care, call 13 11 20, or listen to our podcast series The Thing About Advanced Cancer.