Palliative Care

Palliative care aims to give the best possible quality of life to someone living with a life-limiting or terminal illness. It helps people live their life as fully and as comfortably as possible. It is not the same as end-of-life care, which is care given during the last few weeks of life. Palliative care can be helpful at any stage of an illness. Some people receive palliative care for years.

Accepting palliative care does not mean you are giving up hope. Many people receive palliative care at the same time as active treatment. However, people with life-limiting illnesses may find that they gradually change their focus to concentrating on the things that are most important to them, such as feeling comfortable and having meaningful relationships.

What is palliative care?

Palliative care is an attempt to look after all the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of someone with a serious illness that cannot be cured (called a life-limiting illness). Life-limiting illnesses include cancer, motor neurone disease, end-stage kidney disease and dementia.

It does not mean the end of all treatment. It means making choices about which treatments are important, and which are not. Palliative care is different for everyone, depending on what they need. It may include:

• treatment to relieve pain and other symptoms
• aids to help someone at home
• help with washing, dressing, and eating
• links and referrals to services such as home help, financial support and respite care
• cultural support
• emotional, social, and spiritual support
• counselling and grief support
• practical and emotional support for families and carers

Most people are cared for by their own doctor in partnership with other health professionals and specialist palliative care services, in close cooperation from family and friends.