End of life care
End-of-life care includes physical, psychosocial, social, cultural and spiritual assessment, care and treatment. This care is provided by a range of healthcare workers and includes support for families and carers.
Advance care planning
Advance care planning involves thinking and making choices now to guide a person’s future healthcare. It is a process of communicating wishes, values, beliefs and treatment preferences with family, friends and healthcare providers.
Learn more about advance care planning at My Care, My Choices.
Palliative care
Palliative care is healthcare that focuses on improving the quality of life and quality of care for people with a life-limiting illness, as well as families.
It includes:
- the prevention and relief of suffering
- communication about goals of care
- assessment and treatment of physical, psychological, emotional, social and spiritual symptoms.
Learn more about palliative care:
- Information for consumers
- PallConsult: Support service for clinicians
- Sad news, sorry business - Guidelines for caring for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through death and dying (PDF 1049 kB)
- Improving care at end of life in Queensland
- Palliative care investment and reform
Voluntary assisted dying
Voluntary assisted dying (also referred to as VAD) gives adults with a life-limiting condition, who are suffering and likely to die in the near future, a legal option to choose the timing and setting of their death.
Voluntary assisted dying is about individual choice and may not be an option for everyone.
Advance care planning and voluntary assisted dying
Voluntary assisted dying may come up during advance care planning and end-of-life care discussions. However, voluntary assisted dying cannot be accessed through an Advance Health Directive or Statement of Choices and cannot be requested via a substitute decision-maker.
Learn more about voluntary assisted dying:
Support for voluntary assisted dying
QVAD Support and Pharmacy Service
Phone: 1800 431 371