What is palliative care?
Palliative care focuses on providing physical, emotional and social support to people with an incurable or life-limiting illness and extends this care to families, friends and carers.
There are a wide-range of chronic life-limiting conditions which may require palliative care, including advanced cancer.
Palliative care for cancer patients
A cancer diagnosis can be incredibly difficult.
When the focus is no longer curing your cancer, palliative care can help by reducing cancer symptoms and treatment-related side effects, slowing the growth or spread of cancer and addressing emotional and social concerns for both you and your family.
There are many different treatments that play a role in palliative care for people with cancer. The type of treatment you receive will depend on you and your cancer, and may include radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy and surgery.
Radiotherapy uses highly targeted radiation to destroy cancer cells, reduce the growth or spread of cancer and relieve symptoms. This can help improve your quality of life by controlling symptoms associated with your cancer and reducing your pain levels
Drug therapies, such as chemotherapy and targeted therapy involve the use of anti-cancer drugs to stop further spread of the cancer throughout your body
Surgery may be performed to remove tumours and relieve pain and discomfort.
Palliative care is delivered by a team of medical and allied health professionals including:
Your GP
A palliative care specialist
Cancer specialists such as medical oncologists, radiation oncologists or haematologists
Nurses
Social workers
Pharmacists
Allied health, such as dietitians, occupational therapists and psychologists
As every person’s needs are unique, the palliative care they receive will be different and can change over time. However, the care you receive from your palliative care team may include:
Relief of pain and symptoms associated with your condition
Support for families, friends and carers
Access to resources and equipment
Counselling and grief support
Referral to other services
End-of-life care
Caring for you at Icon
We understand how important it is to feel supported at every stage of care. Our team works closely with palliative care specialists to ensure you and your family receive compassionate, coordinated support when you need it most. If you’d like to know more about palliative or end-of-life care, please talk to your doctor or one of our staff.
Support for you and your family
There are many exceptional services available for you and your family to help you learn more about palliative and end-of-life care and access support during this difficult time. We encourage you to speak with your care team about which options might suit you and your loved ones, in addition to the support services below:
Provides 24/7 phone and online support to people with life-limiting illnesses and their families.
An online education resource which aims to support quality of life for end-of-life patients.
Offers support and information on palliative care for patients, carers and loved ones.