What do you think are the barriers to accessing palliative care at home, for people living with disability?

Brisbane North PHN would like to hear from GPs, nurses and other primary healthcare providers, as part of a project to help identify how we can improve access to palliative care at home for people living with disability.

The project is funded by the Australian Government as part of the Greater Choice for At-Home Palliative Care measure. The measure aims to boost palliative care coordination and integration to support people who have a known life limiting condition, by improving choice and quality of care and support in the home.

The Brisbane North Community Palliative Care Collaborative has identified that people living with disability and a life limiting illness may be experiencing inequity of access to palliative care at home in our region. Brisbane North PHN Project Lead, Caroline Irle acknowledges the extent of the issue is not completely understood at this stage.

“Drawing on figures from the Queensland Government Statistician’s office, we know more than five per cent of the total population of the PHN region are in need of assistance with a profound or severe disability” Ms Irle said.

“Many people living with disability have comorbidities and conditions which can potentially limit their life expectancy. We want to understand more about their experiences in accessing palliative care when they need it, and specifically any barriers they have faced in doing so. We are also interested in hearing about the experiences of disability and primary care services providers about this issue.”

“This is an important project, which seeks to identify opportunities for improvement, and ultimately improve care at the end of life for people living with disability in the Brisbane North region”

The project aims to understand the extent of the issue, the barriers experienced by people living with disability in accessing palliative care and to identify opportunities for improvement.

Primary care professionals are invited to complete a short survey (no longer than 10 minutes) and will renumerated for their time.

Access the survey here

For more information on this project, please contact Carol on Carol@carolhopeconsulting.com.au or Caroline on caroline.irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au.