Palliative Care Victoria

Information and Support for Carers

Families and other carers are usually central to the provision of good palliative care. The reactions of family members will be varied and require individual consideration by the health care professionals in their service delivery. Adequate support and direction for the family throughout the illness trajectory can lead to positive memories and health outcomes for members in the future.

Support groups and carer education can be an important resource for people who are providing care. Support groups can provide social support, information and respite for the carer.

Refer to Carersfor more information on support and other useful leaflets and publications are available. Also refer to Carer education for health care professionals.

Respite Care

Access to professional and palliative care volunteer respite can be organised  for:

• Planned or unplanned respite as a result of a crisis or emergency situation
• Regular respite, for instance a few hours a week, or arranged irregularly as required
• A couple of hours, overnight or for several days
• Respite in the home, in hospital or other facilities within the community.

Each region in Victoria has a Carer Respite Service and the palliative care service in your region can often provide a trained palliative care volunteer. They can also advise you on the most appropriate local carer and respite services.

Spiritual Care and Cultural awareness in palliative care

Improving Supportive and Palliative Care for Adults with Cancer provides clear recommendations for incorporating spiritual care into practice, developing a spiritually aware workforce and further research in this area.

An understanding of cultural practices may be helpful in understanding expressions of spiritual need. Refer to the Multicultural Palliative Care Guidelines (1999).

Sexuality and palliative care

Refer to Sexuality and palliative care for resources that provide an overview of the importance of discussing sexuality with patients who have chronic illness and how an ability to work with patients can contribute to quality of life.  Medications that can impair sexual function are also identified.

At Time of Death

As death approaches, the family/carer may need guidance on what to expect and how to help the dying person as well as what to do after the death. Twenty-four hour contact details to health care professional advice should be available at this time. The process of dying leaflet is available to assist with this guidance.

Medical requirements

The medical practitioner is responsible for notifying the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages of the cause of death. Health care professionals should also be aware of deaths that must be reported to the coroner.

Refer to Medical requirements which sets out guidelines for reportable deaths and other useful websites.