The life expectancy of people with an intellectual disability (ID) has increased but people with ID are under-referred to palliative care and there is currently no model of palliative care in Australia or specific guidelines for services to meet their needs. In the 13th blog for our National Palliative Care Project series, Dr Rachael Cvejic from the Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry at the University of NSW Sydney discusses a new project which aims to improve palliative care services for people with an intellectual disability.

Work with advanced seniors, perhaps more than for any other group of adults, demands an ability to be present first and foremost. In her third and last blog in this series, Felicity Chapman a Mental Health Clinician and Aged Care Specialist highlights the importance of being able to engage with older adults as well as being present with them and discusses how this can be achieved.

Improving the quality of care for people in residential and community aged care settings is very important, especially with an ageing population. In the 12th blog for our National Palliative Care Project series, Distinguished Professor Patsy Yates and Karen Clifton from Queensland University of Technology discuss how the End of Life Directions for Aged Care (ELDAC) Project will help to support health professionals and aged care workers.

In the 11th blog for our National Palliative Care Project series, CareSearch Senior Research Fellow Dr Katrina Erny-Albrecht discusses how the project will continue supporting Australians and contribute to the delivery of the National Palliative Care Strategy by providing access to relevant evidence and resources.

On Friday 13 November, 2020 the Board of Palliative Care Australia (PCA) released a media statement to announce that they would commence recruitment of a Chief Executive Officer following the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Rohan Greenland to take up an appointment as Chief Executive Officer of MS Australia. In the interim Ms Tamara Mckee has been appointed as acting CEO of PCA during the recruitment process.