Palliative Care Australia (PCA) released a report on findings from its 2024 National Palliative Care Workforce Survey at the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference in Brisbane today.
The survey was commissioned by PCA and conducted by Winton Research & Insights from May-August 2024.
Palliative Care Australia CEO Camilla Rowland said the report, based on the views of 1,400 health and aged care professionals, workers and volunteers regarding critical issues affecting the delivery of palliative and end-of-life care, is a wake-up call for funders and policymakers.
"The survey revealed a clear workforce perception that the need for palliative care is increasing, but the additional investment needed to meet that demand has not," Ms Rowland said.
"The underlying theme in the survey report is that increasing demand for care, funding constraints and workforce shortages has placed strain on services, professionals and volunteers. That means increasing limitations on access to palliative and end-of-life care, and increasing stress on the palliative care workforce."
Key survey findings
In specialist palliative care settings:
90% of respondents reported increased demand for specialist palliative care in the previous year, but only 28% said funding met that demand.
69% agreed the palliative care service where they worked had difficulty recruiting staff, and 48% reported difficulty retaining staff in the previous year.
Only 33% agreed the palliative care service where they worked had enough staff to ensure high quality care for every patient.
Just 16% agreed funding for their palliative care service was sufficient to provide out-of-hours care to all who need it.
In primary care settings:
72% of primary care workers agreed that demand for palliative care had increased in the previous year.
Only 18% of primary care workers said that the boundaries between their role and the role of specialist palliative care services was clear.
96% of primary care workers agreed that early discussion of palliative care is critical, but only 11% agreed their service was adequately funded to provide palliative care in the previous year.
In aged care settings:
83% reported that the aged care service where they work provided palliative care to all those who needed it.
Only 39% of aged care workers agreed that the service where they work was adequately funded to provide palliative care in the last year.
Despite the Aged Care Royal Commission's vision that palliative care become 'core business' in aged care, half of the aged care workers surveyed reported either no change (37%) in the quality of palliative care provided in the past year, or decreased quality (12%).
Regarding Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD):
Half of respondents asked about VAD (49%) said that the introduction of VAD had actually increased demand for palliative care, while just 2% said it had decreased demand for palliative care.
Read the full report and short summary here: Australia's palliative care workforce: Challenges and opportunities - Palliative Care Australia
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