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The End of Life Directions for Aged Care (ELDAC) helpline (1800 870 155) offers free access to information over the phone to people caring for older Australians with a palliative need. This includes all health professionals and workers in residential aged care, home care, general practice, primary health networks, and allied health professionals. Dr Georgia Rowley and Caroline Litster discuss what the ELDAC helpline is, why it was established, who it can support and reasons why to call it. 

Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) manages the National Aged Care Advocacy Program. OPAN provides information, education and free, confidential individual advocacy to both community and residential aged care and potential consumers, their carers and families. Lewis Kaplan, former CEO of OPAN, discusses what is the relationship between good advocacy services and good palliative care.

Older people can have multiple, complex illnesses as they near the end of their lives. Achieving the best possible palliative care and advance care planning for older persons in your care doesn’t happen by chance. Dr John Rosenberg from QUT discusses why partnerships are important in improving end-of-life care in Australia. 

I often hear people say that once a person enters a residential aged care facility that the caring role provided by the person’s family and friends is no longer required, and yet this couldn’t be further from the truth. Aged care staff encourage family and friends to stay actively involved in a person’s life. There are many obvious reasons why this is so necessary.

Moving homes is generally a stressful and emotional time and, for residential aged care, this can be further exacerbated by the fact that it is often in response to a crisis. Someone’s mother has been admitted to hospital after a nasty fall or the care requirements of someone’s husband has increased because their diabetes isn’t being well managed. Therefore, not only are people having to make important decisions about where they, or their loved one, is going to live, but this is generally during a time when emotions are high and various members of the family may have different opinions.