Palliative Care

The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care has extended funding for the Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care until October 2025.

The Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care measure aims to improve access to safe, quality palliative care at home. Enabling more people to receive the right care, in the right place at the right time.

At the heart of this program being implemented by WA Primary Health Alliance are two main goals:

  • To promote choice about what matters most to people who are approaching the end of their lives by improving awareness of advance care planning and palliative care.
  • To develop a model of care which acknowledges the work of GPs in the care of people at the end of their life and support GPs to identify potential unmet palliative needs of people with complex chronic illness early and provide a planned approach to care.

The Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care initiative is comprised of four key streams, which you can learn more about below.

Workforce and community awareness  Palliative Care Champion project in general practice
Aboriginal health System integration and improvement

Workforce and community awareness 

Partnership with LinkWest to ensure promotion of advance care planning and facilitation of upload of completed documentation to My Health Record, delivered through the network of Neighbourhood and Community Resource Centres in areas with vulnerable populations in Perth North, Perth South and Country WA.

Partnership with Palliative Care WA to strengthen health literacy relating to advance care planning, palliative care, dying and grief and loss for people who have sensory loss in WA. This population will include people who are Deaf, deaf, deafblind and those with profound hearing loss due to ageing.  

Palliative Care Champion project in general practice

Building GP and general practice capacity and capability to implement a consistent approach to advance care planning as part of routine health assessments for older people and those with complex chronic disease. In 2023/24, a small pilot was undertaken to test this work. The results were encouraging and have led to expansion of this work.

In 2024/25, 9 general practices will be provided with a small grant to support the identification of a member of their team to undertake the role of Palliative Care Champion.

Aboriginal health

Building advance care planning and palliative care awareness and capability and capacity in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services.

This partnership will enable promotion of culturally appropriate advance care planning and awareness of palliative care as a supportive process within routine health assessments of older Aboriginal people and those who have been diagnosed with an advanced chronic illness.

System integration and improvement

This work will be interwoven through each of the three streams described above and is aimed at improving integration of advance care planning and palliative care across the wider health system. Greater Choices will address all opportunities identified where integration between primary, acute and aged care may be strengthened. 

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While the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care has contributed to the funding of this website, the information on this website does not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government and is not advice that is provided, or information that is endorsed, by the Australian Government. The Australian Government is not responsible in negligence or otherwise for any injury, loss or damage however arising from the use of or reliance on the information provided on this website.

PWD