Palliative care

Optimising quality of life for people with life-limiting illness

St Vincent’s Private Hospitals offer a wide range of palliative care related services, for details of the palliative care services at your local St Vincent’s Private Hospital, click here.


Our goals are to improve your comfort and peace of mind

St Vincent's Private Hospital palliative care and supportive care teams focus on optimising quality of life for people with life-limiting illness by providing physical, emotional and psychosocial support. We treat everyone with compassion, integrity and dignity.

Our aim is to provide seamless and coordinated care to people and those who support them, at their place of choice – whether that be at home or in hospital.

Our palliative care specialists

At St Vincent’s Private Hospitals we have expert specialist palliative and supportive care teams who can provide skilled symptom management. This brings physical and psychological comfort for you and reassurance for your family.

Palliative and supportive care at St Vincent’s Private Hospitals is provided by a specially-trained team of palliative medicine physicians, nurse practitioners, clinical nurses and other health professionals. They work together to provide comprehensive, best practice, specialised care.

Please ask your treating doctor for a referral to one of our palliative care specialists.

Our palliative care services

Please check your relevant hospital below for their specific services. **Not all services are available at all hospitals.

St Vincent’s Private Hospital palliative and supportive care services include palliative care in hospital and palliative care at home. We can also provide a range of support services including patient and family support, spiritual and pastoral care and bereavement support.

Not all services are available at all hospitals.

Our palliative care services

What is palliative care?

Palliative care is a person-centred, comprehensive service for people living with an active, progressive, life-limiting disease, with the aim of improving quality of life. Care that includes but is not limited to, symptom and pain management and end of life care.

Palliative and supportive care can be involved early in the course of an illness, in conjunction with other therapies that are intended to prolong life (such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy). It includes investigations needed to better understand and manage distressing complications.

The primary goal of palliative care is to optimise your quality of life. Palliative care helps people live their life as fully as possible when living with a life-limiting illness. Health professionals work with each person to identify and treat their symptoms, which may be a combination of physical, emotional, spiritual and social.

Palliative care may be appropriate at any age — from childhood to old age — and at any stage in a life-limiting illness if you need support or if you have symptoms that need managing. You can also continue to have other treatments by different doctors alongside palliative care.

Our palliative care services

Palliative and supportive care may involve:

  • Relief of pain and other symptoms (e.g. feeling sick or short of breath)
  • Providing special resources (e.g. equipment needed to help you at home)
  • Links to other services (e.g. home help and financial support)
  • Support for emotional, social and spiritual concerns
  • Counselling
  • Referrals to respite care services, to support the carers
  • End of life care

Disclaimer

This information is of a general nature, which may not be relevant to you. Any surgery or invasive procedure carries risk. We encourage you to speak with your doctor about your condition.

Find a hospital near you offering palliative care

St Vincent’s Private Hospital Brisbane’s Palliative Care Service is recognised for providing comprehensive, specialised care to people with life-limiting illnesses both in the hospital and in the home. Our team works together to support you and your loved ones through the emotional, physical, psychological and social elements of dealing with a life-limiting disease.

Overlooking the Brisbane River, our inpatient service allows for intensive support. It includes clinical assessment and care planning, consultation and access to 24-hour support and advice. 
 

 

The St Vincent’s Community Specialist Palliative Care Service provides comprehensive, specialised care to people with life-limiting illnesses. We offer 24-hour consultancy support and advice to help patients live at home for as long and comfortably as possible.

The community service consists of specialist clinical nurses and doctors, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers and counsellors. Our team works closely with community General Practitioners, St Vincent’s hospital team, domiciliary nurses and social services to ensure continuity of care.

After initial assessment and development of a patient’s care plan, follow-up consultations will monitor patient progress and help them to remain at home within the comfort of familiar surroundings. If there is a change in their condition, the care plan will be modified to meet the patient’s needs. 

Referral process

To see a full list of suburbs we service, click here.

To refer a patient to our Palliative Care Service, please submit detailed supporting medical information for our team to review:

  • Supporting information:
    • Medicare
    • Private Health Insurance (if applicable)
    • Hospital discharge summaries
    • Medical correspondence
    • Advanced Care Planning
    • Medication list
    • Medical investigations (pathology, scans)
  • Submit information via:
  • Referral review process
    • Referrals are reviewed by our Palliative Care Consultants and Team Leader daily (Mon-Fri)
    • Timeframe to contact referred patient is 7-10 days
    • For urgent referrals, please phone the office and speak with the Team Leader to discuss
Palliative Care Physicians
  • CLICK HERE for details of our Palliative Care Physicians  
Contact Us
  • If you have any questions regarding a patient’s eligibility for our Palliative Care Service, please call and speak to the Team Leader Ph. 07 3240 1177
  • Alternatively, please Contact Us.

Palliative medicine is changing. It now offers much more than just pain control. At St Vincent’s Private Hospital, Sydney we offer a holistic management program to support patients and families who are experiencing a potentially life-limiting medical condition that is not responding to treatment.

We help people with end-stage diseases. That’s not only cancers — with our increasingly ageing population, we now help more people with heart, kidney failure, liver failure and neurological degenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease.

Research shows that quality of life can be improved if a person sees a palliative care physician at an earlier stage of their disease rather than at the very end.

Our palliative care team will work closely with your other treating doctors to support you through your treatments and ensure that you remain comfortable, minimise distress caused by health symptoms and keep you active for as long as possible.

Our palliative care team includes a palliative care specialist, a palliative care nurse, allied health professionals, social works and a pastoral care team. This team works together to support you and your loved ones through the emotional, physical, psychological and social elements of dealing with a life-limiting disease.

Ask your treating doctor for a referral to one of our palliative care physicians.

Find details of our palliative care physicians here

Contact Us

Our palliative care team can help you with a wide range of symptoms including pain management. They can also help with referrals, rehabilitation and home care.

We help people with end-stage diseases. That’s not only cancers — with our increasingly ageing population, we now help more people with heart, kidney failure, liver failure and neurological degenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease.

Dietitian

Some illnesses, particularly cancers, pose special challenges with diet. Our experienced dietician can provide advice about this if required.

Pastoral carers

For people of all faiths, our pastoral carers are available to provide care and support for your emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

We have two larger private palliative care rooms with attached outdoor spaces allowing for additional privacy.

There is a family room located closely with kitchen, ensuite and sleeping facilities which allows family members to stay close-by.

What’s Special:

  • Extensive menu with all meals freshly prepared on site and made to order
  • Free Wi-Fi
  • Our facility offers peaceful gardens spaces for quiet reflection
  • Access to pastoral care services and chapel with services held monthly
  • Coffee shop onsite offering beverages, light meals and the opportunity to socialise with visitors
Find details of our pallative care specialists here

​Contact Us

Due to our hospital’s close proximity to St Vincent’s Private Hospital, East Melbourne, we collaborate to provide both inpatient and outpatient palliative care services.

Inpatient palliative care services

Our inpatient service is located at the palliative care unit in Fitzroy. This public site has 20 beds.

Palliative care consult service

Specialist palliative care consultations are also provided to inpatients admitted across St Vincent's Private Hospital (Fitzroy and East Melbourne) and St Vincent’s Hospital.

For information about the palliative care consult service phone: (03) 9231 2827 (or via switchboard 9231 2211 and page 1335)  Email: pallcareconsult@svha.org.au.

For outpatient admission

Ask your treating doctor to fax the SCTT referral form to (03) 9231 4696.

For urgent admission, ask your doctor to phone (03) 9231 5602 and speak to the admissions coordinator.

Outpatient clinics

For a specialist palliative care outpatient consultation, ask your treating doctor to send a referral via email to: cancer.reception@SVHA.org.au

​Contact Us

Palliative medicine is changing. It now offers much more than just pain control. At St Vincent’s Private Hospital we offer you, as well as your family and friends, a  holistic management program for your illness.

We help people with end-stage diseases. That’s not only cancers — with our increasingly ageing population, we now help more people with heart, kidney failure, liver failure and neurological degenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis and motor neurone disease.

We work closely with your other treating doctors to support you through your treatments.

Ask your treating doctor for a referral to one of our palliative care physicians.

Find details of our palliative care specialists here

Contact us

Our palliative care team can help you with a wide range of symptoms including pain management. They can also help with referrals, rehabilitation, support groups and home care. Consultation is available for both inpatients and outpatients.

Clinical psychologists

Being diagnosed with a serious illness can be a stressful time that challenges you as well as your partner and family. A clinical psychologist can help you get through this difficult time by providing coping strategies.

Dietitians

Some illnesses, particularly cancers, pose special challenges with diet. Our experienced dieticians can provide advice about this if required.

Pastoral and spiritual carers

Pastoral and spiritual care staff are qualified employees that are part of the Mater interdisciplinary team. Every patient, as well as close family, are offered thoughtful, sensitive and relevant emotional and/or  spiritual support. They can also can listen to your fears, worries, hopes and dreams and provide support during times of grief and loss. They can help you find meaning in your situation and help with any practical matters.

Social workers

Social workers are available to assist you, your family and carers with personal and practical difficulties.

Ask your treating doctor for a referral to one of our palliative care physicians.

Find details of our palliative care physicians here

Contact Us

Better and fairer care. Always.

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