SUBMISSION TO SENATE INQUIRY INTO PALLIATIVE CARE - Prepared by National Policy Office

We would like to emphasise the need for palliative care to include not just the person dying but their family, friends and other support networks and that good palliative care extends beyond the death of the patient in providing grief and bereavement services to those people. [...] The first is information, the second is eligibility and the third the location of that care a) Information For people to be able to make choices about what services they use they need to know what is available and this is why increasing awareness and understanding of palliative care is one of the four goals of the National Palliative Care Strategy. [...] Obviously the intensity of support and care will change with the progression of the disease but it is clear from the stories we have heard that people who make contact with a palliative care services earlier in their illness feel more supported and more able to come to terms with dying. [...] I was very happy with the treatment and believe it is the ‘only way to go’ and it destroyed any fears I had of dying”2 We believe there cannot be a one size fits all approach to palliative care; the illness and the circumstance of the individual need to be taken into account. [...] The service was sub-contracted to Calvary Health Care in the 1990s, and after some time, the service model was changed to a consultative model, in which the Palliative Care staff act as advisors and referral for other services and the actual nursing of palliative care patients returned to the Community Nursing service of ACT Health.