Palliative care

Primary Health Tasmania works to support quality palliative and end-of-life care for Tasmanians, through our work with the Greater Choice For at Home Palliative Care Measure.

What is palliative care?

Palliative care can be defined as “an attempt to look after all the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of someone with a serious illness that cannot be cured.” These are called life-limiting illnesses, and may include conditions such as cancer, motor neurone disease, dementia, and more.

You can find out more about what palliative care is, including the difference between end-of-life and palliative care, via healthdirect.

You can also find out more about palliative care in Tasmania, including support and resources, via Palliative Care Tasmania.

Greater Choice for At-Home Palliative Care

The Australian Government has funded the Greater Choice for At-Home Palliative Care Measure until 2023. This initiative aims to support people with life-limiting conditions by improving the coordination and integration of palliative care across primary, secondary, tertiary and community health services.

Primary Health Tasmania is using the funding to:

  • work with Palliative Care Tasmania to provide education around palliative care services, Advance Care Planning, grief and loss, self-care for carers and practitioners, and symptom management strategies
  • produce helpful resources for clinicians, people with life-limiting illnesses and those who support them
  • update Tasmanian HealthPathways’ palliative care information.

Palliative care and COVID-19 (coronavirus)

COVID-19 can have a severe impact on people with palliative care needs. CareSearch has produced this list of things you can do, and there is also information available at the Tasmanian Government’s COVID-19 website.

Helpful links

Where to find help: