Sector news

In October 2021, Canadian Virtual Hospice launched the Caringtogether.life website to educate, support, and empower parents caring for a seriously ill child and those who are experiencing pregnancy or infant loss. With information and videos featuring families and health professionals the site has content that can be helpful in a range of settings.

National Carers Week 2021 recognises that carers need the ongoing support of all Australians. Carers Australia has brought together and created resources to help us all support carers in their Caring for Carers page. There is a new factsheet on social prescribing for GPs and other medical professionals. Resources for school and support staff help recognise that a young person in their school may have caring responsibilities. Workplaces and employers can learn about the supports and services available to carers looking to combine work and care. Support a carer in your life by checking out the resources on this page.

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Australia released its 2021-2022 Strategy which focuses on six objectives: raising awareness, enabling support services, advocating for people affected by the disease, conducting research, ensuring sustainability, and developing collaborative partnerships. As part of this strategy, the organisation also launched MND Connect which aims to support MND patients and their carers find vital information, support, and services.

Hospitals are required to be able to demonstrate quality end of life care. Currently however, there is no standardised framework in place for evaluating the quality of death and dying for advanced cancer patients in acute hospitals. A new collaborative project led by the Centre for Palliative Care will develop a systematic appraisal process, called QualDeath, to help address this gap.

In September-October 2021 the World Health Organization (WHO) released two new reports to support countries in assessing the development of palliative care and improving the quality of palliative care services: Assessing the development of palliative care worldwide: a set of actionable indicators and Quality Health Services and Palliative Care: Practical approaches and resources to support policy, strategy and practice.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has announced that it is establishing the National Centre for Monitoring Dementia (NCMD). It has also launched the new report Dementia in Australia.