Inquiry into palliative care services

The Health Performance Council was asked by the Minister to inquire into the provision of palliative care in South Australia. Our inquiry report was completed in October 2024 and published in May 2025 with findings about strategic planning gaps, data shortcomings, expected growth in demand for services, gaps between demand for and provision of care, inequitable access to care, and palliative care service models. See the following:

Recommendations

See the one-page summary of key findings and recommendations to the Minister (PDF 379KB) that reflects a need for improvements in the following areas:

  • design and implementation of models of care
  • transparency about progress
  • improvements to data collection and access
  • equitable access to specialist workforce
  • influence to be brought to bear on national policy.

SA Health’s Response

In May 2025, the Minister for Health and Wellbeing advised that all recommendations in the Health Performance Council Report be accepted and requested the Department for Health and Wellbeing to prepare an Implementation Plan responding to the Health Performance Council Report recommendations.

See SA Health’s Implementation Plan in response to the Health Performance Council’s Inquiry Report into Palliative Care in South Australia (PDF 416KB).

For each of the Health Performance Council Report recommendations, the Implementation Plan provides:

  • a summary of progress to date as of May 2025
  • future actions
  • estimated timeframes for completion.

The Department for Health and Wellbeing is establishing a governance structure to oversee and report on progress against the Implementation Plan.