CareSearch Blog: Palliative Perspectives

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is a unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world. It is organised by a committee of the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance. The purpose of this day is:

• To share WHPCA's vision of increasing the availability of hospice and palliative care throughout the world by creating opportunities to speak out about the issues
• To raise awareness and understanding of the needs – medical, social, practical, spiritual – of people living with a life limiting illness and their families
• To raise funds to support and develop hospice and palliative care services around the world.

The National Standards Assessment Program (NSAP) is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and administered by Palliative Care Australia (PCA). NSAP has been running since 2008 and is a quality improvement program available for all specialist palliative care services in Australia.

NSAP aims to improve outcomes in palliative care and end-of-life care at a systematic level by providing a structured program for services. The structured 2-year NSAP cycle enables specialist palliative care services to enhance the quality of their governance and service delivery by:

• Reviewing how they meet the National Palliative Care Standards (the standards)
• Prioritising key improvement areas so they can better meet the standards
• Developing and implementing a quality improvement action plan

I remember a patient some years ago. I’ll call her Maria. She was a lovely Italian woman, in her late 80’s, with a very supportive family.
 
Maria had developed very complex medical problems. She had heart issues, kidney problems and quite severe diabetes. In the last year of her life she had recurring kidney failure and breathing difficulties. She was going in and out of hospital every three or four weeks.
 
The medical team did their very best for her – they were very focused on her medical issues and her symptoms, and she received excellent medical care. A lot of focus was given to how best to look after her kidneys, her heart, her pain and her difficulty with breathing. As her problems multiplied and her needs became increasingly complex, the care she received continued to be excellent.
 

My name is Elizabeth Shepherd and I am the Program Development and Quality Manager for Palliative Care at the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network. Working within this specialised area can be challenging and emotional, however, it can also be very rewarding. My position allows me to work closely with the 3 specialist PPC teams located at Children’s Hospital Westmead, Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick and John Hunter Children’s Hospital, Newcastle. Together we are known as The NSW PPC Programme and over the past 5 years I have been fortunate to work with the energetic and dedicated staff from each service to improve the support that is available to children and families across NSW.
 

The Palliative Care Clinical Studies Collaborative (PaCCSC) is a national research network that has two main aims: