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The views and opinions expressed in our blog series are those of the authors and are not necessarily supported by CareSearch, Flinders University and/or the Australian Government Department of Health.
COVID-19 has caused many disruptions but has also created new approaches and innovations, especially when it comes to existing palliative care patients and the palliative care workforce. Palliative Care Australia (PCA) brought together experts in a range of disciplines including clinical, academic, research, policy, and advocacy. In this blog, PCA CEO Rohan Greenland discusses the work of the Australian COVID-19 Palliative Care Working Group and the range of activities being undertaken to build the capacity of systems and to foster collaboration.
Advance care planning (ACP) is one of the main topics that callers to the ELDAC Helpline call for assistance with. Caroline Litster, Research Officer from ELDAC, discusses the type of ACP inquiries received, and how the Helpline team assist callers with navigating the more complex concerns around ACP in aged care, such as those relating to residents who lack decision-making capacity.
There have been many changes around how to care for others since the outbreak of COVID-19. These changes can compromise the wellbeing of people who receive and deliver palliative care. Hence it has never been more important to undertake research into understanding what is quality – and brilliant - palliative care. Dr Aileen Collier, Associate Professor Ann Dadich, Ms Catherine Jeffs and Professor Gregory Crawford discuss the findings of their research into enabling and sustaining brilliant palliative care.
Speech Pathologists not only provide services to people whose function is affected by communication or swallowing impairment. As part of our focus on Advance Care Planning Week, Wendy Pearse from Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service and Stephanie Veal from Austin Health discuss the important role of Speech Pathologists in palliative care and advance care planning.
CarerHelp provides family carers to access information and resources to help them to plan and be prepared to care for a person with a terminal disease. Dr Kristina Thomas from the Centre for Palliative Care at St Vincent’s Hospital discusses her research into understanding the experiences and needs of family members, and how the results were used to help inform the development of CarerHelp.