Palliative Care Queensland is proud to announce the launch of the 2024 Palliative Care in Queensland Priorities.
The report was developed in recognition of the continued implementation of the Queensland Government initiatives – The Palliative and End-of-Life Care Strategy and The Queensland Health Specialist Palliative Care Workforce Plan. It grew from the voices of Queensland clinicians and consumers who participated in the 2023 PCQ Roundtables and the 2023 Palliative Care in Queensland Summit. This report identifies areas of focus for increasing palliative care services across Queensland.
In early 2023, Palliative Care Queensland identified issues arising in the early rollout of the rural and remote community palliative care project and continued to hear of workforce issues being experienced across the state and across all levels of workforce. In particular, the growth of community services for rural and remote people and developing the specialist palliative care workforce were areas identified as needing increased enquiry.
To understand these issues in depth, a series of roundtables were scheduled. The outcomes of the roundtables fed into a draft list of priorities presented at the 2023 PCQ Summit and Awards. The draft list of priorities was then transformed into seven key topics.
This report sets out the priority topics in palliative care across Queensland. In turn, these priorities have informed the PCQ Budget Submission to the Queensland Government in 2024, which will be released shortly.
The seven topics identified:
🧡 Increase access to palliative care for Queenslanders under 65.
🧡 Increase funding and support for palliative care services in the community and hospices.
🧡 Continue funding quality palliative care and dignified end-of-life care for Queenslanders accessing aged care.
🧡 Grow initiatives that educate and engage the community to build compassionate communities.
🧡 Increase resources and funding directed toward grief and bereavement services and spiritual care.
🧡 Prioritise funding, education, training and recruitment for a more culturally diverse palliative care workforce.
🧡 Improve community pharmacy support and services.
Palliative Care Queensland CEO, Louise O’Neil spearheaded the report’s launch.
‘It’s a great privilege to launch this report off the back of incredible feedback and insight from the 2023 Palliative Care Queensland Summit.’
‘Created for the sector, we hope to provide our members, stakeholders and the community with a clear itinerary of focus moving forward. I encourage everyone to download the report, understand the key priorities and utilise our resources to assist with advocation and moving the sector forward.’
