The Palliative Aged Care Outcomes Program (PACOP) is a national program which supports optimal end-of-life care for residents in aged care homes (ACHs) and their families.

ACHs are supported to embed a standardised assessment framework to identify the palliative and end-of-life care needs and concerns of residents and help identify those who would benefit from palliative care.

PACOP includes two modules- the foundational Profile Collection and the Outcomes Collection. The Profile Collection is used to routinely screen all residents for escalating care needs and informs routine care planning. The Outcomes Collection is a palliative model of care and provides an Assess, Respond, Plan protocol to ensure residents’ palliative care needs are monitored and addressed in a timely manner. PACOP assessments are inclusive of residents and their families/carers and support resident centred care.

The assessment information (data) is captured for all residents via electronic records. De-identified data are submitted to PACOP every six months, analysed, and reported back to ACHs and organisations to inform quality improvement activities and to drive systems-level change. Reporting of outcome measures and national benchmarking allow ACHs to understand how they are performing. Reports also provide evidence of improvements in individual ACHs, at an organisational level and across the aged care sector.

PACOP provides a consistent, national approach to the development of palliative care assessment and communication skills within the aged care workforce. Participating ACHs are invited to attend the PACOP education workshops and have free access to PACOP’s suite of education, training, and clinical resources. Ongoing support is provided to ACHs to integrate the PACOP framework into routine practice through facilitated communities of practice.

PACOP is fully funded by the Australian Government Department of Health & Aged Care and is available to all ACHs throughout Australia at no cost to the aged care home.