Palliative Care Australia
Services offered
Palliative care
Overview
Palliative care is person-centred care that helps people live as fully and comfortably as possible. It is sometimes known as supportive care.
Palliative care can be used at any stage of advanced cancer to help manage symptoms and improve wellbeing - not just at end of life. The aim is to improve your quality of life.
Because everyone is different, palliative care varies from person to person. It can be given at home, in hospital, in a palliative care unit (also called a hospice), in residential aged care or through community-based palliative care providers.
Find helpful information below, or call Cancer Connect on 13 11 20 to talk it through with our qualified professionals.
Key questions
About palliative care
Palliative care offers support to meet your physical, emotional, cultural, social and spiritual needs. Find out more about what palliative care is, where you can have palliative care and if you have to pay for it.
The palliative care team
Your palliative care may be coordinated by your GP, a nurse or a palliative care service. Your care team may include other health professionals or spiritual carers. Learn more about who will assist you, your family and carers.
Questions to ask your health professionals
It can be a good idea to prepare a list of questions before your appointments. See our list of questions about palliative care.
Key steps
Palliative treatment
Understand how medical palliative treatments, like surgery, drug therapies and radiation therapy, can help to manage the cancer.
Managing symptoms
Palliative care can help with symptoms including pain, problems with eating or drinking, fatigue, bowel changes and breathlessness.
Practical and legal issues
Planning for the future can help you feel more in control. Your palliative care team can support you with advance care planning based on what is important to you.
Care and support
Relevant support
Read cancer information
Trusted cancer information for all people affected by cancer
Need to talk to someone?
We're available 9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays)
