Specialist palliative care in nursing homes: Integrating care to improve quality of life and reduce costs

Abstract

The Australian government’s National Palliative Care Strategy sets a vision for palliative care which: • improves awareness and understanding • is appropriate and effective • has high quality leadership and governance • builds capacity and capability The National Palliative Care Standards re-assert the need for palliative care to be available to all people living with progressive or advanced disease. Increases in the number of older people in Australia will lead to the number of aged care residents to rise by 150% from 1998-2031. However, aged care staff often feel inadequately trained or prepared to look after people who are dying. Consequently, nursing home residents are more likely to die in hospital, with uncontrolled symptoms, or without adequate care planning in place. The 2018 Federal budget measure focused on improving palliative care in aged care facilities.