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, 2024Australians 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.
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
Join the conversation
📢 Introducing the new Prompts for End-of-Life Planning (PELP) framework from our friends at caring@home.
The PELP framework guides proactive, high-quality care for people with terminal illness in the last 12 months of their life. PELP is suitable across all care settings to assist health professionals in delivering person-centred care.
More info and download ➡️ https://ow.ly/IU5t50Th5YR
Catch the PCA team, including Board Chair – Prof Meera Agar, Deputy Chair – Dr Peter Allcroft and Project Manager – Chelsea Menchin at the Australia New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine Conference in Adelaide.
The conference is a great opportunity for us to highlight the recently updated National Palliative Care Standards and self-assessment tools.
Can’t be in Adelaide but want to know more about the Standards? Easy ➡️ https://ow.ly/uPBv50Th5QR
Children, young people, and families living with life-limiting conditions are at the heart of a new research initiative.
The Centre of Research Excellence in Paediatric Palliative Care in Australia has been funded with a $3 million grant from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.
“This is very welcome news and will help support better planning and service delivery for the estimated 40,000 children who could benefit from palliative care each year,” says Camilla Rowland, CEO, PCA.
More ➡️ https://ow.ly/s37N50Tg0Cg
The centre will be led by QUT (Queensland University of Technology) with the support of PCA, UNSW, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, International Children’s Palliative Care Network, Children’s Health Queensland, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, and Flinders University.
PCA is happy to support this joint statement with LGBTIQ+ Health Australia and close to 100 other organisations in support of three new topics on gender, variations of sex characteristics, and sexual orientation variables into the 2026 Census, ➡️ https://ow.ly/iHT250TfZaY
Good data is key to health service planning and policy and critical in delivering the person centred palliative care that is the right of all Australians.
While we’ve got your attention, check out the online training program to help healthcare professionals deliver inclusive care to LGBTIQ+ communities ➡️ https://ow.ly/EBwP50TfZlW
Transitioning to the adult health care system is a big deal, and it can be scary.
The ‘Transitioning to the Adult Health Care System – A Discussion Starter for Young People’ contains a range of questions for you to ask your care team as you get ready to transition to the adult health care system.
To download the discussion starter, or prepare for your child’s transition head to 👉 https://ow.ly/3smT50Tcc83