Understanding palliative care
Palliative care is healthcare that focuses on improving the quality of life and care of people with a life-limiting illness, and their families.
Support for families and carers
Support services and decision-making information for people who are nearing the end of life.
Living with a life-limiting illness
Information about living with a life-limiting or terminal illness.
Advance care planning
It can be hard to talk about what might happen if you become very unwell. Advance care planning can give you and your loved ones peace of mind when they know what your wishes are.
Information for health professionals
Guidelines and procedures for health professionals.
Why aren't we talking about dying?
Voiceover: We’re here today to have a conversation about something we can all find a little difficult to talk about.
Michelle: Oop... oop… no glasses.
Sandy: Is it ever too early to plan? No. Done.
Leyton: Well if you’re alive and you… and you…[laughs] and I think that’s basically it.
Rosslyn: It’s never too early to plan for anything but particularly around death because it is the one thing that we are all certain will happen.
Bill: Who knows what’s going to happen when I’m driving home from this interview.
Rosslyn: Having worked with people who have been diagnosed with serious illnesses like cancer, they tell me that it is a bolt out of the blue. That they had no idea that they were going to get this diagnosis and immediately their life changed overnight.
Leyton: And it might happen tomorrow, then planning today is the best idea. So I don’t think it’s ever too early to plan.
Rosslyn: I’ve just asked my… and assisted my 18-year-old son to do an Advance Health Directive.
Linh: I have actually completed my Advance Health Directive, and the reason why (and even though I’m quite young) is I know fare well that my parents have a very different opinion to my care than my husband.
Bill: It’s hard to engage younger people in it because it doesn’t seem particularly relevant but I guess it’s like superannuation. Who cares about it until you’re about to retire; “Oh, should have done that 25 years ago”.
Maria: You may not plan it down to the fine detail, but you can start thinking in those lines.
Rosslyn: And I’m hoping that I never will have to use those documents for my son, but it gives me a bit of peace of mind that I’ve got them in place.
Bill: It gives families a big amount of confidence when you’re asking them to make decisions when they’ve actually had any sort of discussion with their loved ones
Michelle: If you start planning, that means that the people that are with you with this journey don’t have to make those plans for you.
Rosslyn: It is to be remembered though that while you are able to answer, even if it’s with the squeeze of a hand or the blink of an eye, you will always be asked what it is that you want.
Sandy: And you’ve actually got the benefit of time to plan a lot of the hard stuff.
Linh: And there’s no right time, but I think the earlier the better.
Can planning for death improve our life?
Video transcript: Can planning for death improve our life? Voiceover: We’re here today to have a conversation about something we can all find a little difficult to talk about.
Leyton: OK
Bill: Can planning for death improve our life? Umm… Absolutely.
Leyton: I think it can take away the worry for a lot of people.
Bill: We’re really not planning for death; actually we’re planning for what are we going to do with the time we have left and how do we make it as good as possible.
Leyton: I think there’s peace of mind for yourself. There’s peace of mind for your family members. Umm… and as I said getting better care overall.
Bill: I guess the machine that’s medicine, they think that they don’t have the right to say “No, I don’t want that treatment”. And as doctor’s we find it hard to say “Actually, you don’t have to have this treatment if you don’t want to”.
Sandy: It’s sort of counter-intuitive. You think “If I think about death and dying. If I start to plan for this, it’s a macabre topic. It’s going to make me depressed, it’s going to make my family depressed”. But actually it’s…
Maria: It frees you. Sandy: It’s a relief. Yeah. Linh: The planning isn’t about... not just that end of the life, but what would happen the after effects.
Michelle: It takes away the grey area. If your wishes are known, then you don’t have your loved ones in the background trying to second guess.
Maria: We feel at peace, I think, that whatever we have decided on, everybody else is on the same page as us and understands.
Rosslyn: You don’t have to dwell on it. Say what’s on your mind, get it written down, put it aside and go about living.
Is it ever too early to plan?
Voiceover: We’re here today to have a conversation about something we can all find a little difficult to talk about.
Michelle: Oop... oop… no glasses.
Sandy: Is it ever too early to plan? No. Done.
Leyton: Well if you’re alive and you… and you…[laughs] and I think that’s basically it.
Rosslyn: It’s never too early to plan for anything but particularly around death because it is the one thing that we are all certain will happen.
Bill: Who knows what’s going to happen when I’m driving home from this interview.
Rosslyn: Having worked with people who have been diagnosed with serious illnesses like cancer, they tell me that it is a bolt out of the blue. That they had no idea that they were going to get this diagnosis and immediately their life changed overnight.
Leyton: And it might happen tomorrow, then planning today is the best idea. So I don’t think it’s ever too early to plan.
Rosslyn: I’ve just asked my… and assisted my 18-year-old son to do an Advance Health Directive.
Linh: I have actually completed my Advance Health Directive, and the reason why (and even though I’m quite young) is I know fare well that my parents have a very different opinion to my care than my husband.
Bill: It’s hard to engage younger people in it because it doesn’t seem particularly relevant but I guess it’s like superannuation. Who cares about it until you’re about to retire; “Oh, should have done that 25 years ago”.
Maria: You may not plan it down to the fine detail, but you can start thinking in those lines.
Rosslyn: And I’m hoping that I never will have to use those documents for my son, but it gives me a bit of peace of mind that I’ve got them in place.
Bill: It gives families a big amount of confidence when you’re asking them to make decisions when they’ve actually had any sort of discussion with their loved ones
Michelle: If you start planning, that means that the people that are with you with this journey don’t have to make those plans for you.
Rosslyn: It is to be remembered though that while you are able to answer, even if it’s with the squeeze of a hand or the blink of an eye, you will always be asked what it is that you want.
Sandy: And you’ve actually got the benefit of time to plan a lot of the hard stuff.
Linh: And there’s no right time, but I think the earlier the better.
Starting the care at end-of-life conversation
Video transcript: Starting the conversation
Michelle: It can just be a simple, casual conversation.
Linh: It could be over dinner.
Leyton: And sometimes you might be watching the news, hit the news on pause or just turn off the sound during the ad and say “Hey, I’ve been thinking about this kind of stuff”. And then it starts fights over who gets the remote control but still, at least you’ve had the conversation.
Sandy: People who are getting close to that stage of their lives want to have this conversation, want to be allowed to have this conversation.
Rosslyn: And the kids might say “No, no mum, don’t talk about it” and you could say “no, no this is really important to me and I want you to hear what I’ve got to say”.
Sandy: Have the conversation amongst family members, you know, so that all your brothers and sisters know what your mum and dad wanted.
Leyton: Talk about your values, what you value in your life. What you would find unacceptable.
Rosslyn: Putting down what you would like to see happen that is important to you and what you don’t want to see happen that’s important to you.
Sandy: Putting down what you would like to see happen that is important to you and what you don’t want to see happen that’s important to you.
Rosslyn: You don’t have to dwell on it. Say what’s on your mind, get it written down, put it aside and go about living.