Palliative Care

The North West Hospital and Health Service Palliative Care Service is committed to providing excellent quality holistic care which is seamless in its delivery to the palliative care patient, family, and carers from the time of referral, regardless of the place of care within the Mount Isa.

The definition of palliative care adopted by the Mount Isa District Palliative Care Service is that of the Australian Association of Hospice and Palliative Care:

"A concept of care which provides coordinated medical nursing and allied health services for people who are terminally ill, delivered where possible in the environment of the person’s choice, and which provides physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual support for patient, and support for patient’s families and friends."

The Provision of Hospice and Palliative Care Services includes grief and bereavement support for the family and other carers during the life of the patient and continuing after death.”

Specifically, the Mount Isa Health District encompasses the communities of Mount Isa, Burketown, Camooweal, Cloncurry, Dajarra, Doomadgee, Julia Creek, Karumba, Normanton, and Mornington Island with smaller populations found at Duchess, Gregory River, Kajabbi, Kynuna, McKinlay and Quamby.

Although these areas are remote, we provide a service that enables individual clients to receive the care that they wish in the location of their choosing. Each client is assessed on their individual needs while respecting their physical, social, spiritual, emotional, and cultural needs.

The aboriginal liaison officer, palliative care coordinator and representative of the Blue Nursing Service regularly travel to the outlying areas to ensure the care given is the care needed and to educate staff and carers in these remote areas. A collaborative multidisciplinary team approach exists to provide coordinated medical, nursing, and allied services to patients and families.

The model of Service Delivery developed for this Service is one of a small team of core health personnel who utilise other relevant expertise from within the community or further afield as needed.

The primary focus of the team is domiciliary; however the team also provides a range of inpatient services - designated palliative care beds; referral consultative service to other in-patient teams, in-hospital respite and nursing patients are all catered for.