This joint submission from PCA and the Australasian College of Paramedicine responds to the Independent Scope of Practice Review’s second Issues Paper. It identifies opportunities to boost the role of paramedics in palliative care including:

• Providing paramedics access to patients’ electronic medical records, including advance care plans and Directives.
• Ambulance services maintaining best practice palliative care guidelines, including the ability to deliver care for common end-of-life symptoms without transporting the person.
• Incorporating paramedics in local palliative care referral pathways, including beyond Emergency Departments.

PCA and the College of Paramedicine also jointly endorsed a submission to the Review prepared by Dr Madeleine Juhrmann of the Flinders University Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying (RePaDD). This submission maps the Palliative Paramedicine Framework developed by Dr Juhrmann and colleagues against the reform options set out in Issues Paper 2.

These include development of a national skills and capacity framework, primary care curriculum improvements, support for early career and ongoing professional development, harmonising drugs and poisons legislation, and enhancing digital infrastructure for direct referral pathways.

Joint Submission - PCA and Australian College of Paramedicine, Scope of Practice Review, May 2024.pdf

Palliative Paramedicine Jointly Endorsed Scope of Practice Review, May 2024, prepared by Dr Madeleine Juhrmann.pdf