Better health and ageing for all Australians

Palliative Care

Palliative Care for People Living at Home

This page describes how the Australian Government, under the National Palliative Care Program, is supporting people with palliative care needs to remain at home.

In this section:

There is an increasing trend in Australia for people with a terminal illness to spend most of their final year of life receiving care at home. In most circumstances this means that much of the care for these people is provided by a caregiver and/or home-based palliative care services.

The currently funded projects have been developed cooperatively by the Department of Health and Ageing and state and territory health departments.

These projects will develop, pilot and evaluate approaches of care for palliative care patients living at home and their carers. It is expected that these projects and the new approaches being trialled will influence existing systems to ensure access to community support services for this population group.

Projects currently funded are:

New South Wales

    • Gold Standard Palliative Community Care Planning - Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service
    • Domiciliary Continuous Disease Specific Support for Clients with Chronic Cardiac and/or Chronic Respiratory Illness – South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Health Service
    • Palliative Care Extended and Care at Home Packages – Sydney South West Area Health Service
Northern Territory
    • Renal Clients and Carers – Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services
Queensland
    • Education and Support Program Designed for Carers – Queensland Health
South Australia
    • State-wide Palliative Care Links for People at Home – South Australia Department of Health
    • Palliative Care4People@Home Project – South Australia Department of Health
Tasmania
    • Palliative Care Telephone Assist Program – Department of Health and Human Services
Victoria
    • The Role of the Pharmacist in the Community Palliative Care Multidisciplinary Team – Department of Human Services
    • Improving Access to Palliative Care for People who have had a Stroke and their Carers - Department of Human Services
Western Australia