Palliative Care
Improving the quality of life for people who have a life threatening illness
Our teams includes palliative care doctors, clinical nurse specialists, a music therapist and a grief counsellor. We can provide urgent advice and we run an outpatient clinic.
What we do
If you have a life threatening illness, we can work with you and your family to improve your quality of life. We assess, prevent, manage and relieve physical, psychological and spiritual problems associated with your illness.
We help patients with:
- Managing symptoms - including pain control, nausea and vomiting, constipation and delirium
- End of life decision making - such as withdrawal of treatment and artificial hydration
- Advance care planning
- Managing or referring patients and carers with profound distress, grief or bereavement issues
Commonly asked questions
What is palliative care?
Palliative care is an approach which improves the quality of life of patients and their families who are facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness.
We can do this through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems - physical, psychosocial and spiritual.
When should I be referred to specialist palliative care?
Many people can be managed by their general practitioner and existing specialist - for example oncologist, general physicians and geriatricians.
Specialist palliative care may be of benefit if your symptoms do not resolve with standard treatment or if usual medications cause side effects. It may also be helpful for people with life-limiting illness who would like to consider options for care outside the hospital.
What community services are available for palliative care?
Community services form a critical component of palliative care for patients in the community.
These services include GPs as well as community palliative care teams:
- Calvary Health Care
- Calvary Health Care Bethlehem
- Peninsula Home Hospice
- Eastern Palliative Care
- Mercy Palliative Care
- Melbourne City Mission
- South East Palliative Care
We also liaise with Barwon Palliative Care and other regional services.
Community services, both specialist palliative care teams and general visiting nurses such as Bolton Clarke also play a key part in providing palliative care for patients in the community. They are able to do home visits (including support in residential aged care facilities) and have close links with hospices.
Victoria has a wonderful community-wide set of services to cover all areas, regional and metropolitan. Patients may be referred directly to these services by a family member or their GP.
Looking after someone at home?
Get palliative care resources and information to help you care for someone who is at the end of their life, at home.
How to access this service
Referral from your GP
You need a referral letter from your GP or medical practitioner to access this service.
Your doctor will need to fax your referral letter to us. We will be in contact with you in clinically recommended times, depending on waiting list length. If there is no waiting list, you will receive an appointment booking letter or we will contact you to arrange a suitable time.
Our clinics
| Clinic name | Campus | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Palliative Care Clinic | The Alfred | 55 Commercial Rd, Melbourne VIC 3004 |