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What palliative care means in residential aged care

Residents & families Aged care staff 6 min read

By Dr Josh Hatch, FRACGP

Palliative care aims to improve the quality of life of people facing a life-threatening illness, and of their families, by preventing and relieving suffering 1. Palliative Care Australia is clear that it is not just care given in the final stages of life 1. In residential aged care most people stay until the end of their lives, which makes palliative care part of ordinary care rather than a service called in at the last minute 2.

Numbers in the text link to the 4 sources listed at the foot of this page.

The Australian picture

85%

of people leaving permanent residential aged care in 2021–22 left because they had died, among those not appraised as needing palliative care. Among those who were, it was 95% 2.

2.0%

of the 246,000 people in permanent residential aged care in 2021–22 were formally appraised as needing palliative care. The appraisal was part of the funding instrument in use at the time 2.

1 in 2

residents appraised as needing palliative care left permanent residential care within eight weeks of admission. Yet 22% of the same group were still there two years later 2.

47.7%

of 1,208 residents in 26 Australian facilities had at least one advance care directive on file in a multicentre audit published in 2019 5.

What it is, and what it is not

Palliative care looks after the whole person: pain and other physical symptoms, and also emotional, social and spiritual needs, for the person and the people close to them 1. It can be useful on and off through the stages of an illness, and some people have contact with palliative care for a long time 1.

Palliative care is not the same as stopping treatment. A resident receiving palliative care may still have antibiotics for a urinary infection, surgery for a broken hip, or a new medicine for breathlessness. What changes is the question asked of each treatment: does it help this person live the way they want to, for the time they have?

It is also not reserved for cancer. In aged care it applies just as much to frailty, dementia, and heart, lung or kidney failure.

Who provides it

Most palliative care in a residential facility is given by the people who already look after the resident. Specialist teams are added when needs are complex.

  • The resident’s GP. Diagnosis, prognosis, medicines and the medical side of planning.

  • Nurses and care staff. Day-to-day comfort, noticing change, and being the people the resident and family know.

  • Allied health, pharmacists and pastoral care. Palliative care can involve allied health professionals, social workers, pharmacists, psychologists, dietitians and spiritual or pastoral practitioners 1.

  • Specialist palliative care. Advice or visits for symptoms that are hard to control or situations that are hard to resolve. Providers must facilitate access to specialist palliative care when it is needed 3.

Care matched to what the person wants

Good palliative care starts from what the resident wants. For some people that means every reasonable treatment for as long as it helps. For others it means staying in their own room, avoiding hospital and being kept comfortable. Both are legitimate choices, and neither is less care.

The Quality Standards put this in writing. Providers must recognise and address each person’s needs, goals and preferences for palliative and end-of-life care, preserve their dignity, actively manage pain and symptoms, and keep the family informed and supported, including in the last days of life 3.

Related pages on this site

Sources cited on this page

  1. 1 Palliative Care Australia. Understanding palliative care. (Accessed October 2026.) View source
  2. 2 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Palliative care services in Australia: palliative care for people living in residential aged care. (2021–22 data, appraisal under the Aged Care Funding Instrument; section last updated May 2023.) View source
  3. 3 Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. Strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards (November 2025; implemented 1 November 2025). Outcome 5.7 Palliative care and end-of-life care, Actions 5.7.1 to 5.7.4. View source
  4. 5 Detering KM, Buck K, Ruseckaite R, et al. Prevalence and correlates of advance care directives among older Australians accessing health and residential aged care services: multicentre audit study. BMJ Open. 2019;9:e025255. (Health record audit; 1,208 people in 26 residential aged care facilities.) View source

See every source cited across the palliative and end-of-life care section →

Written by Dr Josh Hatch, FRACGP. General information only, reflecting his reading of the published evidence as at October 2026. It is not individual medical advice, does not create a doctor–patient relationship, and must not be used to start, stop or change any treatment. It is not legal advice. Evidence, Australian regulatory requirements and state laws on advance care planning, substitute decision-making and voluntary assisted dying change — always confirm current advice with the treating GP, the state health department or a lawyer.

This is general education, not a clinical protocol. The doctors who practise with Umbrella Aged Care are independent general practitioners, and each makes their own clinical decisions with the resident and family. Your GP’s advice for an individual may differ from what is written here. If it does, please ask them to talk it through with you.

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