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Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) manages the National Aged Care Advocacy Program. OPAN provides information, education and free, confidential individual advocacy to both community and residential aged care and potential consumers, their carers and families. Lewis Kaplan, former CEO of OPAN, discusses what is the relationship between good advocacy services and good palliative care.

An essential first step in our ELDAC journey was to identify the needs and challenges currently experienced by aged care providers when delivering palliative care and advance care planning. From QUT, we distributed an online survey to aged care services via the mailing lists of the peak bodies – LASA, ACSA and CHA.

It’s long been recognised that access to high quality palliative care in Australia is variable. Many Australians face difficulties in receiving palliative care due to factors such as system fragmentation, gaps in service provision, geographic scarcity of services or health professionals, access barriers for vulnerable populations and those living in residential aged care facilities, system navigation issues, low confidence of health workers in providing care to those living with a life limiting condition and limited community understanding of what palliative care is.

In health care the role of evidence in decision making is recognised by health care practitioners and providers, and relates to understanding the balance between the potential benefits and harms of any practice, treatment or intervention. Dr Katrina Erny-Albrecht of CareSearch discusses the importance of independent, critical appraisal and synthesis of evidence into reliable, practical guidance for recipients and providers of care.

The pattern of disease, dying and death has changed dramatically in Australia over the last century. In Australia alone almost 160,000 people die every year. Of these at least 120,000 are expected deaths, meaning that access to palliative care could be of great benefit to both the individuals and their families. But ensuring access to quality palliative care for all who need it is not without its challenges. This is why a group of researchers sought funding from National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for the Centre of Research Excellence in End-of-Life Care (CRE-ELC).