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Canterbury DHB

What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care is provided by all health professionals and should be available wherever the patient is (be that in a community setting or an acute hospital) and delivered in a timely way throughout the course of a life limiting illness. A Specialist Palliative Care assessment should be available on the basis of assessed need rather than simply diagnosis or prognosis.

Specialist Palliative Care is provided through accredited services by practitioners that work exclusively in the field of palliative care. It builds on the palliative care provided by generalists and/or the "primary clinical team" and reflects a higher level of expertise in complex symptom management, psychosocial support, grief and bereavement.

Palliative care is best delivered through an integrated approach and recognises the roles and responsibilities of both palliative care generalists and specialists1.

1 New Zealand Palliative Care: A Working Definition (26.2.07)

In This Section

Referral to Specialist Palliative Care

A Referral to SPC is Appropriate When

Discharge from Specialist Palliative Care

Information about this Canterbury DHB document (11339):

Document Owner:

Palliative Care Service (see Who's Who)

Issue Date:

July 2009

Next Review:

July 2010

Note: Only the electronic version is controlled. Once printed, this is no longer a controlled document.

 

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Topic Code: 11339