National Palliative Care Week is an annual event organised by Palliative Care Australia and supported by the Department of Health to raise awareness and understanding about palliative care in the Australian community.

COVID-19 restrictions have forced the cancellation of many physical events and gatherings – but there’s still plenty of ways you can get involved in NPCW!

While we may be physically isolated, we are not socially isolated! So this year, we have planned a lot of online events and we encourage the community to get involved and join these important conversations about palliative care.

National Palliative Care Week 2020 Launch

Joint Patrons of Palliative Care Australia, The Governor-General, His Excellency, David Hurley and Mrs Linda Hurley officially launched National Palliative Care Week 2020 via a special video broadcast today (24 May). The theme of this week’s National Palliative Care Week (24 – 30 May) is ‘Palliative Care… It’s more than you think!’, which seeks to raise awareness about the many benefits of quality palliative care.

Watch our our Joint Patrons, together with PCA's Board Chair, Professor Meera Agar and PCA's CEO, Rohan Greenland as they invite all Australians to get involved in National Palliative Care Week.

A Virtual Morning Tea with Special Guests

A Virtual Morning Tea with Special Guests: The importance of “comfort, compassion and connection” in end-of-life care: Monday, 25 May 2020.

As part of National Palliative Care Week, His Excellency General, the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Retd), Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia and Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, Joint Patrons of Palliative Care Australia (PCA), joined us via Facebook Live for an exclusive virtual morning tea. This interview was conducted by Di Darmody, highly experienced ABC Perth Broadcaster and friend of PCA.

The event gave us an opportunity to gain exclusive insights into the extraordinary lives of our honoured Patrons and hear their views on issues of compassion and connection in end-of-life care, which are particularly pertinent to the Australian community in the current COVID-19 environment. Watch the interview here.

Palliative Care and COVID-19... We're all in this together!

As part of this year’s National Palliative Care Week, the Parliamentary Friends of Palliative Care Group hosted a special webcast event on Tuesday 26 May 2020.

This invite-only live-streamed event was hosted by ABC broadcaster, Dr Norman Swan and our Parliamentary Friends of Palliative Care Co-Convenors, Senator Catryna Bilyk and The Hon Nola Marino MP.

Our expert panel included Prof Meera Agar, PCA Board Chair and Prof Michael Kidd AM, Principal Medical Advisor and Deputy CMO, Department of Health and Dr Will Cairns, palliative care specialist and member of the Australian COVID-19 Palliative Care Working Group.

The theme of the Q&A style event was “Palliative Care and COVID-19: We’re all in this together”.

At this event, the report “Investing to Save: The Economics of Increased Investment in Palliative Care in Australia” was launched. This report was commissioned with the assistance of The Snow Foundation by Palliative Care Australia and prepared by KPMG.

Parliamentary Friends of Palliative Care - behind the scenes in National Palliative Care Week

Launch of Self-Care Matters

PCA launched this new online self-care resource: Self-Care Matters during National Palliative Care Week on Wednesday, 27 May 2020.

The resource has been authored and produced by well-respected self-care expert Dr Jason Mills, a nurse academic with a clinical background in palliative care and mental health. 

Dr Mills and palliative care nurse practitioner and PCA clinical advisor Kate Reed-Cox demonstrate via the webinar how to create an effective self-care plan and answer some questions received during the event.

We hope you enjoy watching the launch webinar here.

NPCW2020... It's a wrap!

What a week it was! Watch some of the NPCW 2020 highlights here...

Return to National Palliative Care Week 2020.