National Palliative Care Week 2024 - the nation’s largest annual awareness raising initiative
National Palliative Care Week 2024 - the nation’s largest annual awareness raising initiative
Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Australians have a great attitude to life; we want to bring that same openness and curiosity to how we approach end of life and National Palliative Care Week gives us a chance to explore the thinking and conversations that go with it.
Last year our National Palliative Care Week campaign reached over 2.13 million Australians. This year, Palliative Care Australia and our members around the country will take that up a notch, highlighting the real and growing need to educate and empower Australians about quality of life towards the end of life.
In 2024, National Palliative Care Week runs Sunday, 19 May to Saturday, 25 May with a host of local events supported by a vibrant social media campaign - allowing Australians to connect with the ‘people at the heart of quality palliative care’ – the doctors, nurses, social workers, volunteers, and many others.
The week coincides with significant and ongoing reforms across the health, aged care, and disability sectors and is a great opportunity for us to highlight the contribution palliative care is making and what more needs to be done.
Below you will find a host of information to support your own understanding of palliative care and a range of ideas and recourses that will enable you to get involved in National Palliative Care Week 2024.
Watch this page for more news and updates as we get closer to 19 May, 2024.
Events Calendar
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Orange heart lapel pins - now available to order!
Advice for you
 |
 |
 |
 |
Other advice, tools and support
- Understanding self-care
- Planning for self-care
- Self-Care Matters campaign resources – a Palliative Care Australia resource, which aims to support you – whatever your role in palliative care – to prevent burnout and build resilience
- Self-care for volunteers working in paediatric palliative care
- Self-care for health professionals working in paediatric palliative care
- Questions for carers to ask the team caring for your loved one
- The Essence of Spiritual Care: A learning module for health care workers
- End of Life Directions for Aged Care (ELDAC) Toolkits – designed to help you in providing palliative care and advance care planning to older Australians
- Department of Health and Aged Care – palliative care education and training opportunities for anyone who works in primary care and aged care
- National Palliative Care Standards for Specialist Palliative Care Services
- National Palliative Care Standards for All Health Professionals and Aged Care Services
- CareSearch Health Professionals Centre – providing trustworthy and practical resources that are relevant to your practice
- End-of-Life Essentials: free education modules and resources
- Palliative Care Online Short Courses, Flinders University
- LGBTIQ+ Health Australia – LGBTIQ+ Inclusive Palliative Care eLearning
- End of Life Law for Clinicians – online training modules
- Palliative Care Curriculum for Undergraduates (PCC4U) – Free education modules and resources for the University and VET Sectors
- Palliative Care Education Directory – PaCE web app
- Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA) – free health placements in palliative care services and palliative approach workshops
- Paediatric End-of-Life Care Communication Course
- Education for Teachers in Schools about Paediatric Palliative Care
- Oceanic Palliative Care Conference Education Hub
- ‘Live the live you please’ documentary
- Free PCA Resource Library
- Voluntary Assisted Dying in Australia – Guiding Principles for those providing care to people living with a life-limiting illness
- Overview of Voluntary Assisted Dying in Australia by End of Life Directions in Aged Care (ELDAC).
- Navigating the topic of Voluntary Assisted Dying in Advance Care Planning Conversations: Guiding principles for health professionals
- PCA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples palliative care resources
- Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet: Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care
- caring@home for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families
- Gwandalan palliative care education and training
- End of Life Law for Clinicians online module – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and end of life law
- ‘Working out what’s right for your child’ – Discussion Starter Cards and Yarning Companion resources for paediatric palliative care
- Free PCA Resource Library
- Palliative care for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender People and People with Intersex Characteristics (LGBTI) Position Statement
- Palliative Care Victoria: palliative care for members of the Australian LGBTQIA+ multicultural and multifaith community
- LGBTIQ+ Health Australia – LGBTIQ+ Inclusive Palliative Care eLearning
- End of Life Law for Clinicians online module – Inclusive end of life decision-making with diverse populations
- Palliative care NSW – Homelessness and Palliative Care Report
- Department of Health and Aged Care – Exploratory Analysis of Barriers to Palliative Care – Issues Report on People Experiencing Homelessness
- CareSearch: palliative care issues for people experiencing homelessness
- Palliative Care Australia – Providing palliative care for people who are homeless; attempting to break down barriers
- Homeless Palliative Care Toolkit
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Quick links to more info
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Join the conversation
Be one of the first 100 people to register for #25OPCC for your chance to get your money back and receive free registration.
Aged care, primary health, oncology, dementia care, disability services, paediatrics, First Nations health – all parts of the health and care sectors will be part of a global conversation in beautiful Brisbane next September.
And with Dr Joanne Doran back as MC, your welcome will be warm and connection to those around you deep.
Register now for your chance to win, you will at the very least save over $400 on the full cost of registration ➡️ https://ow.ly/xT9150TZQAx
“Palliative care isn’t just about dying well – it’s about living well in the time we have left. Both my mother and my nephew taught me that,” says Ged Kearney, Assistant Minister for the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.
“My beautiful nephew died from an aggressive Ewing sarcoma when he was only 17, and it was very quick, and my mother, at the other end of the age spectrum, died of quite a rare autoimmune disease when she was 74, which is still quite young.”
The Assistant Minister shares her very personal story as part of our ‘People of Palliative Care’ series ➡️ https://ow.ly/MwCI50U7C9N
🙂 We end the week on a high note! Congratulations to PCA Chair, Prof Meera Agar, who has been recognised by Research Australia for her advocacy work on behalf of patients, families and those working in the palliative care sector.
Meera is a Professor of Palliative Medicine, at the UTS: University of Technology Sydney, a practising palliative medicine physician in South West Sydney, and change maker.
Her clarity of thought, strategic insights, deep clinical knowledge, and warm wisdom is well known to her peers and was ‘highly commended’ at this week’s Australian Health and Medical Research Awards.
Congratulations Meera, thank you for what you bring to PCA and the community we serve.
New episode alert!! 📣📣
In this episode of Thursdays@3 we are spending some time with Jonathan Muller, and Community Brain Cancer Navigator with the Peace of Mind Foundation, Jonathon has also worked as a palliative care nurse.
More information and show notes:
🧡Peace of Mind Foundation website 👉 https://www.peaceofmindfoundation.org.au/
🧡Advocacy on gaps between NDIS and healthcare systems 👉 https://palliativecare.org.au/mediarelease/breakthrough-for-better-access-to-palliative-care-for-people-with-disability/
Thank you to you for tuning into Thursdays@3!
Three new submissions have been uploaded to PCA’s Policy and Key Issues webpage:
🧡 Feedback on the Draft Aged Care Rules 2024, Service List. In our submission PCA identifies opportunities to ensure the services list supports the integration of palliative care within aged care, as envisaged by the Royal Commission.
🧡 Review of the Independent Hospital and Aged Care Pricing Authority, Pricing Approach for the Support at Home Service List. In PCA’s view, the pricing model must reflect the full costs of providing aged care to older people with palliative diagnoses in all reasonably foreseeable circumstances. This includes complex nursing care, and psychosocial support including grief and bereavement support.
🧡 National Nursing Workforce Strategy – Joint Submission, Palliative Care Nurses Australia Inc. and PCA. The Strategy is an opportunity to support the role of all nurses in palliative care. This includes in specialist palliative care; in aged care and primary care, and in acute and sub-acute settings.
Read and download all three submissions and more ➡️ https://ow.ly/IemW50U4PCU
