Palliative Care Australia

05/09/2026

📣Community pharmacies: order your free caring@home resources today.

The caring@home Community Palliative Care Pharmacy Pack is designed to support community pharmacies caring for people receiving palliative care at home.

The pack includes information about core palliative care medicines, along with practical resources to support carers and families with:

🔹 Practical care at home
🔹 Physical symptom management
🔹 Subcutaneous medicine management

Having the right information and resources available can help carers and families feel better supported when caring for someone at home.

Order a Community Palliative Care Pharmacy Pack:
https://bit.ly/3SqPohZ

05/09/2026

Laughter can create connection in the moments it’s needed most.

For almost three decades, David Symons has helped bring laughter, play and joy to people living with serious illness.

As Artistic Director of Clown Doctors Australia, David oversees Laughter Care Specialists working across hospitals, hospices and aged care facilities. Their work is grounded in connection, meeting each person where they are and finding what feels meaningful in that moment.

A joke shared between a child and a clown. A favourite song sung together. A conversation that helps someone say words they’ve been holding onto.

In our latest story, David shares the moments that have stayed with him, and the role laughter and connection can play right through to the end of life.

Read Connection through laughter:
https://paediatricpalliativecare.org.au/story/connection-through-laughter/

04/09/2026

What does it take to ensure Territorians can access the palliative care they need, including at home?

Sarah Begley, Deputy Chair of Palliative Care Australia’s Board, joined Katie Woolf on Mix 104.9 '360 earlier this week to shine a light on palliative care in the Northern Territory and the dedicated community palliative care nurses supporting people and families across vast distances.

Sarah spoke about the significant pressures facing these services and the need for greater investment in community palliative care, support for remote communities and sustainable funding for Palliative Care NT.

At the core of the conversation was the idea that palliative care is about “living until you die”, helping people live well and do what matters to them, right through to the end of life.

🎧 Listen to Sarah’s conversation with Katie Woolf: https://ihr.fm/4xyFXwd

iHeartRadio

04/09/2026

More than 3,300 older Australians are experiencing delayed discharge from hospital, while more than 200,000 people are waiting for a Support at Home package.

Today, Ageing Australia, the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) have called for urgent action to increase aged care capacity and ease growing pressure across our health system.

Palliative Care Australia supports that call.

Increasing aged care capacity is critical, but we also need to make sure older Australians can access the right care, in the right place, at the right time.

That includes timely access to palliative care in residential aged care, at home and in the community.

When the right clinical care, medicines, equipment and other supports aren't available outside hospital, people with palliative care needs can remain in hospital longer than necessary or return to hospital when they could otherwise be cared for in the community.

Strengthening palliative care outside hospital is one part of the broader solution, helping people receive appropriate care where they want it while also reducing avoidable pressure on hospitals. PCA has previously made this connection in its hospital “bed block” advocacy.

04/09/2026

How can Men’s Sheds support men through end-of-life experiences?

The Good Death Impact Network and The Care Lab at UNSW are hosting a hybrid seminar exploring the role Men’s Sheds can play in supporting men experiencing dying, caring and bereavement.

Presented by Dr John MacArtney, Associate Professor at Warwick Medical School, the session will draw on research into hospice Men’s Sheds in the UK and explore how these groups can help reduce loneliness, provide peer and emotional support, and connect men with other forms of support.

📅 Tuesday 8 September, 2-3pm
📍 UNSW Sydney + online via Teams

Find out more and register: https://bit.ly/4haM57W

03/09/2026

Help shape palliative care for children and young people with cancer.

Researchers at UNSW Sydney are seeking experienced health professionals working in oncology, haematology, palliative care and related disciplines to participate in a national e-Delphi study.

The study will help develop an evidence-informed Model of Care to support the earlier and more consistent integration of palliative care alongside cancer treatment for children, adolescents and young adults in Australia.

📅 Round 1 closes Friday 11 September 2026.

Find out more and participate: https://app2.welphi.com//Pages/RedirectPage.aspx?vHhTTzhYnpZU7ug2RHWySCzwWM5bt8RvkMhQtTGgjMU=

03/09/2026

PCA was delighted to host CEOs of the Palliative Care State and Territory organisations this week for a productive strategic planning meeting.

The visit included a tour of Palliative Care ACT's Leo's Place respite care facility, and a positive meeting with Jo Mond, from the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing's Cancer, Organ Donation and Palliative Care branch.

Palliative Care Victoria | Palliative Care Tasmania | Palliative Care South Australia | Palliative Care WA | Palliative Care Queensland Inc. | Palliative Care NSW

02/09/2026

Thank you for sharing your Support at Home experiences. 🧡

In June, we invited people to share their experiences of accessing, or trying to access, the Support at Home End-of-Life Pathway.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their experiences with us. We know these experiences can be deeply personal, and we greatly appreciate your openness and willingness to contribute to our advocacy.

Your experiences helped inform PCA's submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Support at Home program, strengthening our advocacy for better access to palliative and end-of-life care for older Australians, their families and carers.

02/09/2026

🧡 The Orange Heart is supporting compassionate end-of-life care across Gippsland - and attracting interest from health services around Australia.

The Gippsland Region Palliative Care Consortium (GRPCC) has implemented the Orange Heart as a door sign to discreetly signify that a patient is in their final days of life, helping ensure interactions are guided by sensitivity, respect and compassion.

The Consortium has also developed an implementation package to support health services to use the sign consistently. The Orange Heart has now been implemented in 10 health services across Victoria.

The initiative was presented at the Palliative Care Nurses Australia Inc. Conference in June, where GRPCC Manager Anny Byrne received Best Oral Presentation in the Acute Care Session. Since then, the implementation package has been shared with a further nine health services across multiple states, reflecting growing interest beyond Victoria.

Congratulations to Anny and the GRPCC team on the growing reach of the Orange Heart. We’re pleased to share their work in collaboration with Palliative Care Victoria.🧡

01/09/2026

Pain is more than a number on a scale.

It can affect sleep, work, relationships, independence, wellbeing and the ability to do the everyday things that matter.

That’s why we’re proud to support Painaustralia’s Wear Red for Pain campaign this September and its theme, My Pain is More Than a Number, raising awareness of the millions of Australians living with chronic pain.

Wear red today. Start a conversation. Help make pain visible. ❤️

𝗪𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.

It's September 1, the first day of International Pain Awareness Month, and we're inviting all of Australia to wear red in support of the 4.2 million people living with chronic pain.

Pain is often invisible, but your support doesn't have to be. Whether you're a pharmacy, workplace, family or individual, wear red today and help start a conversation about pain that's compassionate, informed and genuinely supportive.

If you're wearing red today, we'd love to see it. Share your photo using , or head to our website to find out more and get involved.

👉 painaustralia.org.au/wearredforpain