Palliative Care Australia this week brought leaders from aged care, palliative care, health, advocacy, research and policy together in Melbourne for its inaugural Palliative Care in Aged Care Forum.
The two-day forum, delivered in partnership with Aventedge, focused on a critical challenge for Australia's care system: ensuring older people can access high-quality, compassionate palliative and end-of-life care when and where they need it.
Opening the forum, Palliative Care Australia CEO Camilla Rowland said there had been important progress since the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, but significant work remained.
"We now have broad acceptance that palliative and end-of-life care must be core business in aged care," Ms Rowland said.
"The real question is how we provide that care well and sustainably, for every older person who needs it, every day they need it."
Ms Rowland said major reforms had created a strong foundation, including a new Aged Care Act, updated quality standards, new funding pathways, and growing investment in workforce training and capability.
"The direction of reform is clear, and the foundations are in place," Ms Rowland said. "Now the real work of implementation begins."
"Important challenges still remain, including limited access to palliative care pathways in aged care, workforce pressures, barriers caused by eligibility rules based on life expectancy, and the need for stronger connections between aged care, specialist palliative care and general practice," Ms Rowland said.
A keynote address from Inspector-General of Aged Care Natalie Siegel-Brown kicked off day two, which reinforced the need to embed palliative care across the system. "Palliative care must be 'how we do care', not 'what we do at the end'," she said, emphasising that end-of-life care cannot be treated as an add-on but must be integrated into everyday aged care practice.
Ms Rowland said the forum reflected a shared commitment across the sector to ensuring older Australians receive care with dignity, compassion and respect.
"The reforms underway have given us an important foundation," she said. "What happens next will depend on how well we work together to turn that reform into better care and better experiences for older Australians at the end of life."
