What is Palliative Care?

For patients with a life-limiting diagnosis, without prospect of cure, the role of the Metro North Palliative Care Service is to provide specialist support required to anticipate, prevent or relieve suffering associated with complex physical, psychosocial or spiritual symptoms through impeccable assessment, treatment and care and to enable a dignified and peaceful death in the patient’s location of choice.

Palliative care affirms life and intends neither to hasten or postpone death. Defining palliative care helps us integrate services across our organisation and with our community partners. This enables us to respond promptly, consistently, holistically and locally to the many needs of people living with a symptomatic life-limiting condition.

World Health Organisation

The World Health Organisation’s definition of palliative care (2018) recognises that palliative care addresses both physical and non-physical suffering, is applicable early in the course of a life-threatening disease and offers complex symptom management alongside treatment through a person-centered and integrated approach to care. Palliative care enables the individual to live as actively as possible and provides support for people in bereavement.

Palliative Care Australia

Palliative Care Australia (PCA, 2018) reflects the WHO’s definition: Palliative care is person and family-centred care provided for a person with an active, progressive, advanced disease, who has little or no prospect of cure and who is expected to die, and for whom the primary treatment goal is to optimise the quality of life (2018).

International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care

International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care (2018) Palliative Care involves active, holistic care in the context of serious illness and especially near the end of life, with the aim of improving quality of life, symptom management and response to suffering

Palliative care offers:

Expert pain and symptom management, with advanced pharmacology knowledge
Capacity to discern and respond with compassion to psychosocial and spiritual suffering and to existential distress
Support to family and carers and the ability to respond in unstable domestic situations
Signposts to bereavement support
Multidisciplinary clinical coordination: a focus on the patient’s personal goals and quality of life throughout their disease trajectory and optimising home-based care
Responsive end of life care, delivered in the patient’s preferred location
A shared approach to ongoing research, education and teaching
A recognition that each patient is experiencing loss, uncertainty and adjustment – their life, their roles and their identity have shifted from all that they anticipated.

Our Services

Community Palliative Care

Phone: (07) 3049 1210

TPCH Palliative Care

Inpatient unit and ward-based consult liaison service.

Phone: (07) 3139 4482

Redcliffe Palliative Care

Inpatient unit and ward-based consult liaison service.

Phone: (07) 3883 7050

RBWH Palliative Care

Consult liaison service.

Phone: (07) 3646 6138

Caboolture Palliative Care

Phone: (07) 5429 4875

Which services might I need?

Patient / Carer resources