27/05/2024 - Palliative care - SA Health

Palliative care is a holistic approach to supporting individuals with life-limiting illnesses – meaning an illness that’s active, progressive, or advanced, with little or no prospect of cure.

With the support of healthcare professionals – including doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals, palliative care aims to alleviate symptoms, enhance quality of life, and provide emotional, social, and spiritual support to both patients and their families. 

Palliative care can begin at diagnosis, offering support throughout the illness journey, and can even potentially prolong life.

Palliative care is about empowering people to live their lives as fully and comfortably as possible, even in the face of terminal illness.

For help with navigating palliative care and bereavement support in South Australia, Palliative Care Connect provides information and links for people with life-limiting illnesses and their family, friends, and carers, as well as health and aged care professionals. 

Palliative Care Navigators and Bereavement Navigators are available by phone to support South Australians with life-limiting illnesses and their family members, friends, and carers, as well as healthcare professionals.

To learn more, visit Palliative Care Connect or call the dedicated Palliative Care Connect Statewide Navigation Service on 1800 725 548 (PALLI8), available Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 4pm.

In this segment, we hear from Dr. Peter Allcroft, a Senior Staff Specialist at Southern Adelaide Palliative Services and is a highly respected physician who has dedicated his career to improving the lives of patients with life-limiting illnesses. Kate Swetenham, who is the Director of Nursing at the Department of Health’s End of Life Care Team, provides clinical support to programs of work in Advance Care Planning, Palliative Care, Voluntary Assisted Dying and Grief and Bereavement.