Palliative Care Week - It's your right

“The end of life deserves as much beauty, care and respect as the beginning.” - Anonymous

It's National Palliative Care Week and the theme for 2022 is 'It’s your right.' Australians have the right to access high-quality palliative care support when and where they need it.

The terms “palliative care” and “end of life” care are often used interchangeably but they have different meanings.

Palliative care supports quality of life for people facing a life-limiting illness and aims to enable them to live well, pass away according to their wishes, and support the grieving process for loved ones. This kind of care may continue for an extended period of time.

End-of-life care is a specific element of palliative care, which provides support and quality care to a person in their last few hours, days or weeks of life so they can pass on peacefully and with dignity.

High-quality palliative care is holistic - it supports all aspects of wellbeing, and gives the person ample opportunity to be involved in their care in line with their wishes and capacity.

In our experience, having a positive end of life experience means different things to different people. While each person’s care will differ depending on their individual circumstances, the best that we can do for the people we care for is support them to live as fully and as comfortably as possible for as long as they’re in our care. For residents who are nearing end of life, the most comfortable place to be is in their Care Community with familiar carers and loved ones by their side.

Talking about palliative care and end of life care can be difficult but planning ahead is important. With our support, having thoughtful conversations with ageing loved ones about their end of life care and preferences enables a better living, dying and grieving process for everyone. You can learn more about our approach to palliative care support here.

If you or a loved one would like to learn more about advanced care planning at an Opal HealthCare Care Community near you, please reach out to us at communications@opalhealthcare.com.au.