Palliative Care

Palliative care is an approach to treatment which aims to:

Improve the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem of life-threatening illness
Prevent and relieve suffering

Identify, assess and treat pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual
Affirm life and regard dying as a normal process

Offer a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death

It is appropriate early in the course of illness, in combination with other therapies that are intended to prolong life, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy, and includes those investigations needed to better understand and manage distressing clinical complications.

Palliative care at home can involve:

1.Personal care and assisted living such as assistance with bathing, dressing and toileting
2.Continence care, whether it is changing continence pads or managing a stoma or catheter
3.Medication support including prompts or administering medication, even the more complex prescriptions
4.Support with pain management
5.Help to move around the home, whether it is gentle support or hoisted transfers
6.Housekeeping duties such as vacuuming, dusting, changing beds or doing the laundry