Connecting with life through palliative care
Palliative Care Connect provides people who are dying and their loved ones with information and access to palliative care and bereavement supports.
Kate Swetenham knows the value of life – which is why she dedicates her career to dying.
The Director of Nursing, End of Life Care, at the Department for Health and Wellbeing, has spent more than two decades working to improve services and outcomes for people receiving palliative care.
And it’s not all about looking after those in their final days or hours. “Most people when they hear the words ‘palliative care’ think the end is very near, but you don’t have to be imminently dying – people receiving palliative care can have months, even years ahead,” she says.
Those months and years are filled with supports from palliative teams including specialist doctors, GPs, social workers, occupational therapists and spiritual care providers, to address all aspects of a person’s needs. “It is to really provide that whole person care,” Swetenham says.
The holistic approach extends to a patient’s families, carers and friends as well. “There is a saying in palliative care that the family is the unit of care,” Swetenham says. “It recognises the illness doesn’t happen in isolation to that one patient, it is happening to those around supporting them.”
As well as ensuring palliative care services exist, Swetenham’s focus is on ensuring access to these services is as straightforward as possible. She is part of the team who developed and launched Palliative Care Connect, a South Australian service designed to support people through their palliative care journey. Simple navigation services help patients to access the right assistance at critical moments, while trained palliative care navigators are on hand to provide guidance and support.
“We recognised there was a gap between people in the usual care pathways accessing specialist palliative care, so we wanted to build a bridge and link them together,” Swetenham says. “We needed a single entry point where people could get information – where it didn’t matter which door they opened, they could walk through and be supported by people who were able to help them.
“That was where we saw the role of the navigators coming in, to try to help people get their way through established pathways within the health system in the most efficient and most appropriate way.”
The results are already speaking for themselves. The service was established in October 2023 and more than 1000 people have accessed Palliative Care Connect to date.
“We have spoken to consumers who have been through the navigation service and asked what they would have done if the navigation service didn’t exist. “They said they probably would have continued but would have ended up incredibly frustrated.
“People using the service don’t necessarily want to drop their problems into somebody else’s lap. They’re happy to do the work but get frustrated by not knowing which way to go.
“We use the analogy to think about the navigation service like you think about roadside assistance. You don’t call your mechanic when you’re stuck on the side of the road – you call the RAA and they come out and they do a quick assessment and they work out how to get you moving again. That’s what this navigation service is about: you’ve got stuck, we’re coming in to listen to what the issues are and we’re going to help connect you so you can get on with doing what you need to be doing.”
Palliative Care Connect offers a 24/7 website with easy-to-navigate information, resources and a call back form, as well as a phone line staffed by navigators who can provide personalised guidance and support. Visit palliativecareconnect.com.au or call 1800 725 548 (PALLI8), Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 4pm.
