Palliative care in general practice

GPs are well-placed to provide palliative and end-of-life care for patients.

Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life of patients with life-limiting illnesses. It is often associated with the care of people with cancer, but those with non-cancer end-stage chronic or complex conditions also have significant needs that GPs can help to address.

End-of-life care is an important part of palliative care. It denotes the care and services given to people who are nearing the end of their life, and their families. It often involves bringing together health professionals to help patients to live out their life as comfortably as possible.

Improving palliative care

As our population ages and chronic diseases become more prevalent, improving palliative care has become an Australian Government priority. However, studies have shown many GPs lack confidence in providing this care. Reasons for this include patient complexity, inadequate training and insufficient resources. Poor communication and inadequate links with specialist palliative care services have also been identified as barriers.

An estimated 60 to 70 per cent of Australians would prefer to die at home. GPs and other primary health care providers play an integral role in fulfilling these wishes, where possible. NWMPHN works to support them by:

• improving links between primary care professionals (GPs, practice nurses, residential aged care staff), community and inpatient services palliative care services
• coordinating access to resources for primary health care providers regarding palliative care services in the region
• coordinating access to quality palliative care education for health care professionals in the region.

The Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care measure provides funding for coordinating palliative care through primary health networks. The first round of funding, in 2018, was used to create a panel of subject matter experts and community members to explore the concept and meanings of the term “dying well”.

This resulted in a report containing several recommendations regarding service gaps in the provision of palliative and end-of-life care in NWMPHN’s catchment. From this we have developed the Precious Time website for support and services in the community.

The current round of funding supports capability building of the primary care workforce, improved integration and coordination between primary care and palliative care providers, and promotion of end of life options to community.

For more information contact education@nwmphn.org.au

We help GPs and primary health care providers to provide palliative care as part of usual practice. We provide education, resources and deliver other activities to support this.

Core Medicines List and pharmacy locator

To facilitate timely access to palliative care medicines, more than 80 pharmacies in NWMPHN’s region have agreed to stock the localised palliative care Core Medicines List (CML).

The CML was informed by evidence and through consultation with local palliative care providers including GPs, nurses and pharmacists.

Read more about the project on our website.

Palliative Care Services in the NWMPHN region

The North and West Metropolitan Region Palliative Care Consortium supports the delivery of effective, responsive, and accessible palliative care services to people in the north west metropolitan region of Melbourne.