Palliative Care
Palliative care aims to support people and their families who are dealing with life threatening illness. By ‘life threatening’ we mean those diseases that can’t be cured and that at some point may lead to death – be that years, months, weeks or days away. For instance: cancers that can’t be cured though may still be responsive to drugs or radiation; or lung, heart, nerve or kidney diseases that get progressively more difficult to manage despite medical care.
Contact the Regional Cancer Treatment Service
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care can be helpful at all stages of serious illness. It is often best introduced early on in your care, sometimes even at the point it becomes clear what is wrong with you. Sometimes it can be appropriate to have palliative care support even when you are having intensive treatments, for instance chemotherapy for cancer, or renal dialysis for kidney failure. In other words, palliative care could be there to support and help comfort you in those times when illness is causing major problems or distress in your life. It should also be available to you wherever you may be – hospital, home, or rest home.
How Can Palliative Care help when you are in hospital?
The hospital palliative care team can often provide valuable input into your care, the care of your family and whanau. We may be able to do this by providing support, comfort, information and expertise in many different situations. These might include:
- Times when your illness is causing discomfort, for example pain, shortness of breath, or nausea and vomiting. We may be able to help ease these symptoms and improve your comfort.
- When your thoughts and feelings are troublesome. Having someone to help you talk through and address these things can often make a major difference.
- Occasions when your illness may be having a big impact elsewhere in your life – maybe with your partner, children, work or perhaps financial affairs. Professional support and advice in these situations can often help you find solutions and resolve some of your concerns.
- You may also be faced with decisions and choices that are confusing or difficult to make during your illness. The palliative care team may be able to help explain things to you, and help you find answers that you feel most comfortable with.
- On leaving hospital you may need ongoing support and care. The palliative care team is often able to link in with the right services for you in your area. For many people we see this is the team at Arohanui Hospice, or the hospice in your area.
- Sometimes a disease is stronger than any medical treatments we have on offer. When this happens and death is close, it is extremely important that you get the care you need in the best place for you, your family and whanau. If that place is hospital, we can support the team, you and your family, and work with you to keep you comfortable. We can also help with planning discharge and linking into community services if the best place to be is in the community.
Background:
The hospital palliative care team was first established in 2002 as a joint venture between MidCentral Health and Arohanui Hospice. The aim of the service is to improve access to palliative care for inpatients, to help with symptom management, discharge planning, and linking people into community hospice services on discharge. The team sees around 400 patients a year from the medical, surgical, elder health and cancer treatment services.
Hospital Palliative Care is relatively new in New Zealand and there is a national professional group called Hospital Palliative Care New Zealand. It aims to promote the development, integration and culture of palliative care within New Zealand public hospitals at local, regional and national levels, in order to improve the quality of care available to patients with life-threatening illness, their families and whanau.
How can the team be contacted?
Your primary care team may discuss the possibility of getting us involved with your care. If you say yes, we would normally be with you within two working days, sometimes much more quickly if matters are urgent.
If you feel that you would like our input, but have not been referred, you can discuss this with a member of the team looking after you.
If you still have questions about who we are or how we can help, you are welcome to contact us through the hospital switchboard. Other staff in the hospital may also be able to answer your questions. There are also leaflets explaining all about us in more detail.
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Last Updated 23/11/2007