Sector news

You have until 30 June to nominate an individual or team that works in or alongside the primary healthcare sector. The awards recognise individuals and practices that give excellent care, embrace change and improve the health of their community.  What a great chance to recognise the individuals and teams in primary healthcare that support palliative care patients and care for those who are ageing, caring, dying and grieving. Visit the Stronger Medicare Awards website for nomination requirements.  Nominations close 30 June 2024.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released the National palliative care measures—a new set of care measures which will allow an assessment of the current state of the systems and provide a tool for sector improvements. These measures are designed to support the National Palliative Care Strategy by tracking if ‘people affected by life-limiting illnesses get the care they need to live well.’

AIHW has also released its report on Palliative care and health service use for people with life-limiting conditions. This is the first national study to examine palliative health service use across multiple settings (hospital and community) and by patient characteristics (sociodemographic and diagnosis) for a population receiving specialist palliative care and a population in need of palliative care.

The Department of Health and Aged Care has released toolkits to encourage the workforce to undertake palliative care education and training. They have content and resources tailored for aged care, general practitioners, nurses and allied health professionals about training. This training will help them deliver quality palliative care. The toolkits include key messages about the importance of palliative care education and training, editorial content for newsletters, emails, websites and intranet news, text message content for aged care providers to send to their staff, videos, posters, and social media posts and image tiles.

In response to requests from key national stakeholders, the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care supported the caring@home project to develop a core medicines list applicable across all Australian States and Territories. The list identifies four medicines that can be prescribed by clinicians for end-of-life symptom management for home-based palliative care patients. It will support standardised, quality palliative care by improving access to medicines in the community.

In 2024, the National Palliative Care Standards 5th ed. (2018) has been updated to ensure it is consistent with contemporary practice, language, and digital innovation to carry the sector through to 2030. The National Palliative Care Standards for Specialist Palliative Care Providers (the Standards 5.1 ed.) continues to clearly articulate and promote a vision for compassionate and appropriate specialist palliative care. The Standards 5.1 ed. recognise the importance of care that is person-centred (and family*-centred) and age-appropriate. The Standards 5.1 ed. continue to point to the requirement for specific consideration of the individual needs of people who may be especially vulnerable as members of diverse populations and or due their experiences. The Standards 5.1 ed. is mapped to the National Safety and Quality in Healthcare Standards and Consensus Statements. Palliative Care Self-Assessment (PaCSA) checklists can be used to self-assess against the standards.  Services can download Audit Tools and Service Stories that will further support self-assessments.

Palliative Care South Australia has announced the launch of Ambulance Wish in South Australia—a collaboration led by PCSA involving St John Ambulance SA and Flinders University and supported by the SA Government. Ambulance Wish fulfills special wishes for people living with a life-limiting condition. In the words of Shyla Mills, PCSA CEO, the program ‘is a community awareness raising program for palliative care - reframing the public perception of palliative care from sadness, pain and suffering to celebrating humans who have wonderful stories to share.’ To meet its target of fulfilling the wishes of 75 palliative care patients per year, the program is seeking the support of donors, fundraisers and corporate partners.