Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care (GCfAHPC) Program
MPHN is one 31 PHN’s across the nation to receive funding to coordinate palliative care activities in their region. The Greater Choice program identifies being cared for and dying at home is most people’s preference. This initiative aims to help make that possible by enhancing local service provision, to improve access to safe, quality palliative care at home and support end-of-life care systems and services in primary healthcare and community care.
Key project strategies
Strategy 1: Enhancing equitable access to holistic palliative care and carer support
Implementation strategy that enhances the holistic well-being of carers, improving end-of life care in Residential Aged Care Homes (RACH’s) and ensures equitable access to bereavement support and promotes death literacy within the community including RACHs.
Employ a public health approach to improve quality of life of carers supporting individuals with life-limiting illnesses, including dementia, by providing education, practical support and community engagement, with a specific focus on supporting carers at end of life.
Embedding culturally safe and equitable access to palliative care for diverse communities.
Provide support to RACHs on best practice, education opportunities, through community of practice and RACH engagement.
Improve equity in access to bereavement support through access to community-based resources and referral pathways for bereaved carers in the community.
Strategy 2: Enhanced General Practice Palliative Care through integrated Multidisciplinary coordination and best practice implementation
Support general practice to establish and optimize multidisciplinary team meetings to facilitate collaborative palliative care planning and delivery.
Support best practice tools such as Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) program, and referral pathway tools in general practice to improve patient outcomes through routine assessment of palliative care needs and robust referral pathways.
Supporting quality improvement processes, through access to education and training, to support general practice in adopting and maintaining best practice in palliative care.
Support access to resources, tools, localized pathways, and best practices to enhance general practice capacity in delivering high-quality palliative care.
Strategy 3: Enhancing culturally safe cand community-led palliative care for First Nations communities through collaborative primary care approaches
This strategy builds upon the recommendations from our consultation report to implement a comprehensive, community-led strategy to enhance culturally safe and accessible palliative care for First Nations communities through collaborative primary care approaches.
Support community collaboration through encouraging engagement and collaboration with First Nations communities.
Support the development of skills and knowledge related to palliative care within First Nations workforce and the broader primary healthcare workforce.
Promote understanding of cultural considerations and cultural competency in palliative care delivery within primary care.
Explore opportunities to improve access to and coordination of palliative care services and supports for First Nations communities.
Build on community strengths in caring for mob, finishing up (end-of-life planning) and Sorry Business (bereavement) support with First Nations communities.
MLHD Specialist Palliative Care Referral information
This service is available to anyone, along with their carers or family members, living with an incurable illness. They can receive palliative care even if they are still undergoing treatment. Anyone can make a referral, as long as the person being referred has given their permission.
To refer someone, call the Community Care Intake Service on 1800 654 324 or email MLHD-CCIS@health.nsw.gov.au.
If you have any questions, please ask your local community health centre.