End of life care resources

End of life care describes the care and treatment delivered by health professionals, carers and other support staff to a person who is living with a life-limiting illness such as chronic or malignant disease. A person is considered to be ‘approaching the end of their life’ if they are likely to die within the next 12 months.

Education and training documents

Education and training are cornerstone to SA Health’s commitment to providing high quality end of life care to consumers and their families. The following documents; Education and Training Resources (PDF 71KB) and Education Options (PDF 110KB) are available to download for further information on a range of education and training options that are available for clinicians, health care workers, carers and consumers.

The documents have been developed for the purpose of providing information on further education and training options available to help develop your understanding of caring for people at the end of life including knowledge and skills. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information within the documents, however SA Health does not exercise any control of these sites and assumes no liability for the content. The inclusion of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement or recommendation of these sites.

SA Health resources

National Safety and Quality Service Standard 5: Comprehensive Care

The NSQHS Standard 5: Comprehensive Care describes actions that need to be met for accreditation:

  • 5.15 — The health service organisation has processes to identify patients who are at the end of life that are consistent with the National Consensus Statement: Essential elements for safe and high-quality end-of-life care
  • 5.16 — The health service organisation providing end-of-life care has processes to provide clinicians with access to specialist palliative care advice
  • 5.17 — The health service organisation has processes to ensure that current advance care plans:
    • can be received from patients
    • are documented in the patient’s healthcare record
  • 5.18 — The health service organisation provides access to supervision and support for the workforce providing end-of-life care
  • 5.19 — The health service organisation has processes for routinely reviewing the safety and quality of end-of-life care that is provided against the planned goals of care
  • 5.20 — Clinicians support patients, carers and families to make shared decisions about end-of-life care in accordance with the National Consensus Statement: Essential elements for safe and high-quality end-of-life care

The ACSQHC has also published the National Consensus Statement: Essential elements for safe and high-quality paediatric end-of-life care, for delivering safe and high-quality end-of-life care to children.

The SA Health Accreditation Resource Standard 5: Comprehensive Care identifies the resources that are available to support each action.

Person-centred care at the end of life

The Advance Care Directives Act 2013 (SA) and the Consent to Medical Treatment and Palliative Care Act 1995 (SA) pave the way for a rights-based, person-centred approach to health care. Information on the clinical care practices and administrative processes to support person centred care at the end of a person’s life is available on the following web pages:

Information for consumers on these topics is available on the End of life care web page.

Palliative care services

When a person has been diagnosed with a progressive, life limiting illness and their care needs cannot be met by their primary care team, palliative care teams can provide specialist advice and support about how to control symptoms, maximise function and maintain the persons’ quality of life. Information on how to access specialist palliative care support is available on the Palliative Care Services web page.

Contact

Safety and Quality
Telephone: (08) 8226 9599