Palliative care in residential aged care facilities for residents with a non-cancer diagnosis

<p align="justify"><font face="Arial" size="2">An aged care facility is where many of us will spend our last months or years, and increasingly it is the place where we shall die. As a result, the role of aged care facilities to provide care for the dying has evolved and there is increased likelihood that provision from admission to death within the one setting will be required. The availability of palliative care has been advocated to ensure that physical, psychosocial and spiritual care is provided. This paper reports the findings from an NHMRC study conducted in South Australia during 2002/3 which explored the current palliative care offered to residents with a non-cancer diagnosis in aged care facilities. Conducted in two stages, stage one involved a survey to quantify resident deaths from non-cancer diseases, the proportion of current residents who require palliative care, the existence of specific palliative care policies and the interface with specialist palliative care services. Stage two describes the profile of 69 residents with a non-cancer diagnosis whose care needs and specialist palliative care involvement were longitudinally tracked over a two month period. The results from this study have implications for practitioners and the planning of palliative care services in aged care settings.</font></p>