As a careworker, you help older people to live happy and healthy lives in their home or in an aged care home. You are also part of the team that continues to provide care and support as the person comes to the end of their life.
Understanding palliative care
If you are new to aged care, you may want to grow your experience in providing care to older people with palliative care needs. Palliative care is person and family-centred care provided for a person with an active, progressive, advanced disease and who is expected to die. The primary goal of care is to support quality of life. Palliative care and end of life care is now part of the strengthened aged care standards which commence on 1 July 2025.
Building your knowledge of aged care and palliative care
The Equip Aged Care Learning Modules cover topics such as the Australian Aged Care System, the role of care workers, and the Aged Care Quality Standards.
Our Practice Tip Sheets for careworkers contain information on palliative care for older people. The Tip Sheets cover what you need to know and what you can do across 42 topics. You can download or order a booklet.
Our education videos for careworkers offer a good way to quickly build your knowledge about key palliative care issues such recognising deterioration and what to say to families.
ELDAC has a homecare app which helps home care workers to provide end of life and palliative care to their clients.
Recognising changes
As a careworker, you spend time with the older people you are providing care to. This means you many recognise that things are changing. You may be the first to notice that the older person is finding it harder to do things or is no longer interested in activities. They may be less interested in food and be losing weight. If you notice things and feel unsure, talk to others in your team about what you have seen.
Some services use the SPICT4All tool (327kb pdf) to help identify changes which could suggest the person may be in the last months of life. It is important to share what you see with the care team.
Talking about end of life
Many people find it difficult to talk about death and dying. Sometimes an older person may start a conversation about dying or planning. You don’t have to have answers. You can simply encourage them to tell you what is worrying them. You may like to ask how you can help. Listening and acknowledging concerns may be of great comfort.
You can also ask if they would like to talk to someone about their health or talk about planning for the future if things change. Remember to talk to your supervisor or others in the care team about the things you see and discuss.
In the Practice Tips for Careworker booklet there are tips for Talking about Dying and tips for Talking within the aged care team.
Taking care of yourself
When you provide care for someone, you get to know them. This can make it hard for you when they deteriorate. You may feel grief that they have died and not know what to do with these feelings. Talk to your friends and others in your workplace about what you are feeling.
Self-care is important for everyone working in aged care. palliAGED has a self-care plan that can help you plan activities and supports that can help you. ELDAC has a Self-Care Room that can provide you with some ideas.
Page updated 06 February 2025