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
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Orange heart lapel pins - now available to order!
Advice for you
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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
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Quick links to more info
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Join the conversation
This National Carers Week, PCA recognises the vital role of families and carers. 🧡
More than 3 million Australians provide unpaid care and support to a family member or friend.
For people living with a life-limiting illness, families and carers can play an important role throughout the palliative care and end-of-life care journey – providing care, support, advocacy and connection.
The theme, ‘You are, know, or will be one’, is a reminder that caring affects all of us. This week, we recognise and celebrate carers and the important contribution they make to people, families and communities across Australia.
Learn more about National Carers Week and find ways to support a carer: https://carersweek.com.au/
#NationalCarersWeek #PalliativeCare #CarersAustralia
Great news! The caring@home project has secured Australian Government funding for another four years under a National Palliative Care Project Grant. 🏠
Led by the Brisbane South Palliative Care Collaborative (BSPCC), caring@home will continue to support quality and timely palliative care and end-of-life care at home through practical resources and education.
Over the next four years, the project will develop new and updated resources for community service providers, health professionals, and families and carers, alongside education for specialist palliative care and primary care workforces.
Explore the caring@home resources: https://bit.ly/4h421cp
Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing | Queensland Health
#PalliativeCare #EndOfLifeCare #CaringAtHome #Carers
Today is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 🧡
Today we recognise the people who deliver and support palliative care around the world, and the importance of ensuring everyone who needs palliative care can access it.
For PCA, that means continuing to advocate for better access to palliative care and end-of-life care, stronger services and a supported workforce – and working with our partners to strengthen palliative care in Australia and across our region.
Next April, we’ll continue that work alongside the Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network (APHN) at APHC27OPCC in Adelaide, bringing our sector together to share knowledge, learn from different communities and health systems, and build stronger connections across the Asia-Pacific.
On World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, we look forward to the conversations ahead – and to welcoming our colleagues from Australia and around the region to Adelaide in 2027.
Learn more about APHC27OPCC: https://aphc27opcc.com/
#WorldHospiceAndPalliativeCareDay #APHC27OPCC #PalliativeCare
World Mental Health Day is an important opportunity to recognise the knowledge and expertise that come from lived experience. 💚
This year’s ‘Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change’ campaign calls for lived experience to help shape the policies, services and decisions that affect people’s lives – moving beyond simply being heard to meaningful involvement and action.
PCA works to ensure the experiences of people living with life-limiting illness, their families and carers inform our advocacy and help shape palliative care policy and services across Australia.
People can contribute through our National Register of Palliative Care Consumers and Carers, People of Palliative Care story series and opportunities to share their experiences directly with PCA.
Find out more: https://palliativecare.org.au/get-involved/
#WorldMentalHealthDay #PalliativeCare #LivedExperience
Today, we’re putting our hats on for children’s palliative care 🎩🧢👒
Palliative Care Australia is proud to once again join the global #HatsOn4CPC campaign, raising awareness of children’s palliative care and advocating for better access to care for children with life-limiting conditions and their families.
Every child who needs palliative care should be able to access high-quality, person and family-centred care that helps them live as well as possible, while supporting their families and carers.
This year’s call to Close the Gap: Palliative Care for Children, Everywhere reinforces the need to strengthen access to paediatric palliative care, build workforce capability and support timely referral so children and families can access the right care when and where they need it.
ICPCN – International Children’s Palliative Care Network | #HatsOn4CPC #CloseTheGap #PalliativeCare #PaediatricPalliativeCare
There’s still time to have your say and shape PCA’s advocacy.
Have you or someone you care for needed specialist medical care for a life-limiting illness?
Palliative Care Australia wants to hear about your experience.
🟠 Did you face long waits, high out-of-pocket costs or difficulty finding the right specialist doctor?
🟠 Or were you able to access timely, affordable specialist care when and where you needed it?
🟠 What else stood out about your experience of accessing palliative care?
PCA is preparing a submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability’s inquiry into access to and affordability of medical specialists.
Sharing your experience can help us highlight what needs to improve – and what good access to specialist care looks like.
Share your experience: https://bit.ly/4AoUix5
Experiences received by 13 October will help inform PCA’s submission.
Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing | #PalliativeCare #SpecialistCare #HealthPolicy
