If not already involved, referral to palliative care should be considered at this stage (including nursing, pastoral care, palliative medicine specialist backup, inpatient palliative bed access as required, social work and bereavement counselling), with general practitioner engagement.

If not already in place, the patient and carer should be encouraged to develop an advance care plan (AHMAC 2011).

The multidisciplinary palliative care team may consider seeking additional expertise from a:

• pain service
• pastoral carer or spiritual advisor
• bereavement counsellor
• therapist (for example, music or art).

The team might also recommend accessing:

• home- and community-based care
• specialist community palliative care workers
• community nursing.

Consideration of appropriate place of care and preferred place of death is essential.

Ensure the needs and preferences of the person’s family and carers are assessed and directly inform support and guidance about their role (Palliative Care Australia 2018).

Further information

Refer patients and carers to Palliative Care Australia.