Palliative Care
After you get a terminal diagnosis, you can have palliative care at any stage in your illness. You can also have palliative care alongside treatments, therapies and medicines aimed at controlling your illness, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy. However, palliative care does include caring for people who are nearing the end of life – this is sometimes called end of life care.
Palliative care may also be able to support the people close to you, including friends, family and carers. They may be able to speak with professionals who can offer practical and emotional support.
What is palliative care?
Palliative care is treatment, care and support for people with a life-limiting illness, and their family and friends. It’s sometimes called ‘supportive care’
Since it’s based on individual needs, palliative care can be quite different from one person to the next. A care plan might involve one or more of the following goals:
- Improving understanding of illness and its progression
- Identifying and addressing practical and spiritual needs
- Helping to cope with feelings & changes related to illness
- Alleviating symptoms, including side effects of treatment
- Identifying and accessing additional resources to provide support
Key Partners
