This Palliative Care Week (11-17 May), the Metro South Palliative Care Service (MSPCS) and QEII's 3A nursing team is on a mission to spark meaningful conversation and shine a light on end-of-life care planning.
For many it’s a morbid topic, but for the Palliative Care nursing team, it’s about empowering patients and their loved ones to ensure people can access the care they want and deserve when the time comes.
Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Consultant (CNC) Renee Wilson says the 2025 theme, What’s your plan? is a call to action that’s as simple as starting a conversation.
“It’s really important to have discussions with each other, our families and with the community about planning for the end of our life. We are all dying, and we only have one chance to get it right.”
With a wealth of experience between them, the passionate nurses behind 3A hosted a What’s your plan? stall in the front foyer during the week, complete with interactive games and resources to inspire staff, patients, and visitors to think differently about death.
“Upstairs, we have a beautiful Palliative Care Unit. We have ten patients that we care for, plus we see many consults throughout the hospital. We are getting busier, and people are needing us more and more,” explained Renee.
“It’s important that we're visible, that we’re talking about dying and that we are empowering people to make choices around their own health.”
With an aging population increasing demand on palliative care services, Nurse Unit Manager (NUM) Hannah Davern says it’s never too soon to start talking about a plan.
“The goal of this campaign is engagement. It’s all about starting the conversation, because we shouldn't assume that our loved ones and our healthcare providers know what we want. It’s everyone’s business, and that's why these conversations are so important,” she said.
Read more about Palliative Care Week 2025 here.