New education projects to target community based palliative care and earlier referral for cancer patients

Palliative Care Australia is proud to lead two new initiatives that seek to improve access to quality of life at the end of life by up-skilling existing health professionals in the delivery of this critical care.

The Quality Use of Community Palliative Care Medicines Project is focused on supporting patients who choose to be cared for at home, with better access to the medicines they need to be pain free and manage their symptoms.

“We know that 90% of people want to be cared for at home, up-skilling the clinicians who work in those community settings is key to making good on those end of life wishes,” says Camilla Rowland CEO, Palliative Care Australia.

Combining the expertise of the consortium, which includes Brisbane South Palliative Care Collaborative, Ageing Australia, and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, the project springs from the first nationally agreed, National Core Community Palliative Care Medicines List.

“The project’s mission is to make sure medicines on the Core Community Palliative Care List are more available from local pharmacies, and that pharmacists can better support patients and carers in their use of these critical medicines at home,” Ms Rowland says.

“Also working closely with the primary care and aged care sectors, the project seeks to take pressure off our hospital system and respect the wishes of the majority of Australians who would prefer to die at home or in a community setting.”

The project is specifically targeting:

• Pharmacists and their teams in community pharmacy to ensure timely access to core medicines and further support for palliative care.
• General Practitioners and Nurse Practitioners as prescribers and care managers.
• Domiciliary nurses, including aged care nurses, as care and medication managers in their respective service settings.

This project is supported by funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care under the Quality Use of Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Pathology program.

Secondly, in partnership with the Australia New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine, the National Patient Support for Advanced Cancer Project, will develop a continuing medical education program for specialists managing cancer, focusing on the introduction to palliative care for advanced cancer patients.

“The program will be supported by an awareness raising campaign to encourage specialists treating cancer to have more timely referral conversations with their patients,” Ms Rowland says.

“On average people who are dying are only receiving palliative care just 15 days before death, in reality its much less, we need to change that so that patients and families get the benefits of palliative care sooner.”

This project is also funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care, both projects are due for completion by December 2027

“We are delighted to partner with some great organisations on this important work and have already hit the ground running with staff coming on board now to lead both projects,” Ms Rowland says.

“Demand for palliative care is growing as our population ages – the growth rate in the population aged over 85 years is on track to triple in the next 7 years, we have no time to waste.”