Nominations have opened for the 2023 Palliative Care Australia, National Palliative Care Awards, presented by Silverchain.

Held every two years, the awards recognise excellence, innovation, teamwork and emerging talent in Australia’s palliative care sector; and this year’s award line-up features a new award for lifetime achievement.

This is your opportunity to give your colleagues the recognition they deserve - you can also nominate yourself.

2023 Award categories:

• Emerging leader
• Emerging researcher
• Outstanding work by a team in delivering palliative care
• Innovation in palliative care
• Outstanding achievement in volunteering
• Outstanding achievement in Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander palliative care
• Outstanding achievement by an individual in palliative care
• Lifetime achievement award

“The awards are an important opportunity to show appreciation for the exceptional care and support provided by the palliative care workforce and volunteers across Australia,” says Camilla Rowland, Chief Executive Officer, Palliative Care Australia (PCA).

“We want to shine a light on the skill, dedication, and compassion of individuals and teams working in all parts of the palliative care team."

Here's what previous Award winners have said:

“When I got awarded the Emerging Researcher Award, I realised my work was actually making a difference for some people and that made me incredibly happy," - winner, Emerging Researcher Award.

“Winning the award was an extremely humbling recognition of my personal commitment to enhancing the opportunities and experiences for people with disability at the end of life.”

“As a direct result of the Award, I was contacted by a range of clinicians, researchers, people living with disability and those who support them - nationally and internationally.

“Some of those contacts resulted in significant opportunities for me," - winner, Emerging Leader Award.

“Receiving the award has given me more of a voice nationally in both palliative and aged care sectors, to advocate for improvements in care for older persons and their families," - winner, Outstanding Achievement by an Individual in Palliative Care.

“I believe winning this award reflects the work performed by all volunteers in the hospice and indeed all volunteers working with South Australian Palliative Care.”

“An individual can achieve so much but a team can achieve so much more," - winner, Outstanding Achievement by a Volunteer’ Award.

In 2023, PCA is partnering with Silverchain to deliver this key event in our sectors calendar. Silverchain, is a leading in-home provider of complete health and aged care services in Australia, supporting over 115,000 people each year.

The gala awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, 14 September, and coincides with the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference at the International Convention Centre, Sydney and will be hosted by the one and only, Jean Kittson.

Apart from being one of the stalwarts of Australian comedy, Jean uses her profile to talk about what's important - she has been an advocate for women’s health and palliative care for many years.

She is the Patron of Palliative Care Nurses Australia Inc. and her latest book 'We Need to Talk About Mum & Dad' opens up conversations on how to support your ageing loved ones.

Anyone can nominate an individual or team for the 2023 National Palliative Care Awards, entry is free, nominations close on Thursday, 22 June 2023. The process is easy and straight forward.

“The doctors, nurses, physios, dietitians, music therapists – all those involved in that team approach to palliative care look forward to this night as an opportunity to get together and let their hair down, and it’s important we give them that opportunity,” Ms Rowland says.

“Palliative care supports quality of life and it's important that we support and recognise the people who deliver that care day in and day out through these awards.”

Nominations have closed.