Palliative Care Australia is the peak national organisation representing the interests and aspirations of all who share the ideal of quality care at the end of life for all.

Palliative Care Australia is an incorporated body whose members are the eight state and territory palliative care associations and the Australian and New Zealand Society of Palliative Medicine.  The membership of these associations includes palliative care service providers, clinicians, allied health professionals, academics, consumers and members of the general community.

The Federal Government has appointed the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) to develop a long-term health reform plan, with particular attention to the shape of the Australian Health Care Agreements (AHCAs).

Palliative Care Australia (PCA) welcomes the NHHRC's acknowledgement of end of life as a critical area for action.  PCA's submission to the NHHRC highlights six key opportunities to promote quality care at the end of life for all. 

PCA's submission to the NHHRC

Palliative Care Australia is pleased to provide issue 2 of The Standard Newsletter, our national newsletter for the National Standards Assessment Program. All Palliative Care Australia newsletters are available directly from the PCA website - to view The Standard Newsletter, please click here.

Palliative Care Australia has launched this new web resource and community service announcement to mark Palliative Care Week 2008. The web resource features the community service announcement, four vignettes in which four different people talk about their experiences with death and a chat page.

To see the new Palliative Care Australia Community Service Announcement and visit the Matter of Life and Death website, please click here.

To view the Community Service Announcement through the Palliative Care Australia YouTube channel, please click here.

Knowledge Network in partnership with Palliative Care Australia have launched the CareSearch website on 26 May 2008 as part of National Palliative Care Week. CareSearch is an online evidence-based resource that helps palliative care clinicians, researchers, patients and family members to find the information they need about palliative care.
You can find links to patient information resources, services, organisations, journal articles and documents about symptoms and diseases, patient care and management. These resources have been developed and evaluated by multidisciplinary health professionals.

To view CareSearch click here.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd convened the Australia 2020 Summit on 19 and 20 April, 2008 to help “tackle the long term challenges confronting Australia’s future.” Summit discussions focused on 10 key areas including a long-term national health strategy.

Palliative Care Australia’s submission to the Summit outlines a pathway to providing quality care at the end of life that promises to enhance access to quality care, more effectively meet the needs of patients with terminal conditions, and at the same time reduce unnecessary hospitalisations.

To read Palliative Care Australia’s submission to the Australia 2020 Summit CLICK HERE.

CLICK HERE to view the 12th issue of the RACPAN Newsletter. Please note that this is the final printed version of the newsletter. To continue to receive a copy by e-mail you need to register your e-mail address with PCA Connect. Alternatively if you already have a PCA Connect account then you only need to go into PCA Connect and tick the box for RACPAN Newsletter. You will then receive e-mail notification when a new edition is available. To log in to PCA Connect CLICK HERE.

On 13 February 2008, Minister Nick Sherry, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law has announced a set of new arrangements to better support Australians living with terminal illness.  A new Bill introduced into Parliament will relieve the financial burden of terminal illness by allowing people with terminal conditions to access tax free superannuation lump sums.

Palliative Care Australia has participated in the consultation process for the Bill which will improve quality care at the end of life for all Australians.

To read the Minister's press release CLICK HERE.

In the last 50 years, dying has changed.  Ensuring quality care at the end of life for all demands a vision that confronts the new reality of dying and the reform necessary to actuate it.

This national forum offers an opportunity for stakeholders to help shape the health policy agenda and promote the broader applications of the principles of palliative care within the health care system.

Guest speakers include renowned international author and geriatrician, Professor Joanne Lynn.

Further event and registration details.

Since their introduction in the mid 1970s syringe drivers have provided symptom control via subcutaneous infusions of drugs to treat unrelieved pain and other distressing symptoms when other routes are inappropriate or no longer effective.  The Graseby MS16A (introduced in 1976) and MS26 (introduced in 1983) syringe drivers have been a mainstay of palliative care provision across Australia for more than twenty years.

Following the withdrawal from sale of the Graseby syringe drivers, Palliative Care Australia in collaboration with the Centre for Palliative Care Research and Education have prepared this report to help inform the palliative care and aged care sectors about alternative devices that are available to the Australian market.

To access the full report CLICK HERE

To access Appendix 1 – the manufacturers’ responses to the criteria defined by the aged care and palliative care sectors CLICK HERE

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