Introduction Palliative Care Australia developed service standards for best practice delivery of palliative care in non-specialist palliative care settings.
The aim of this work is to support all health providers to provide high quality palliative care to their patients regardless of the setting. The work acknowledges that health care providers that are not providing specialist palliative care, do provide palliative care and can have a role in providing and supporting this approach from diagnosis to end of life care. Services and solo providers can use these standards to reflect on their service and networks and improve delivery where needed.
These standards are based on Palliative Care Australia’s National Palliative Care Standards 5th edition.
If these standards are utilised, access to palliative care will be substantially increased. Patients will be able to receive palliative care, from their care providers, earlier in the chronic disease or illness trajectory than is presently the case.
PCA undertook consultations to develop these standards throughout 2021. Palliative Care Nurse Australia President, Janeane Harlum, Chaired the working group. The consultations invited the views of more than 100 organisations and individuals. Responses were received from peak organisations such as the Royal Australian College of Physicians, Royal Australian College of General Practice and the Australian Medical Association. It also included consumers, carers, and specific groups such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations, FECCA and LGBTIQ+ Health Australia. Allied health groups also participated.
The consultations found a high level of consensus that “generalist palliative care” was delivered by providers other than specialist palliative care clinicians and more support to provide it with quality was welcomed.
Palliative Care Australia is now actively engaged in promoting these standards through working with health organisations. Palliative Care Australia is considering ways to support and reward services that use these standards to ensure high quality, holistic palliative care is widely accessible.