Palliative Care
Our palliative care services provide compassionate support for patients and families during serious illness.
On this page:
What we do
Bass Coast Palliative Care offers a comprehensive inpatient, outpatient and community palliative service that provides high quality care and support to individuals and their carers living with life-limiting illnesses.
The priority is providing holistic care to manage the physical, spiritual, emotional and social symptoms that align with an individual’s preferences and wishes to ensure quality of life.
The Palliative Care service:
• aims to enhance quality of life and may also positively influence the course of illness
• is applicable early in the course of illness, in conjunction with other therapies that are intended to prolong life, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy, and includes investigations needed to better understand and manage distressing symptoms
• integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care
• affirms life and regards dying as a normal process
• offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death
• addresses symptom management such as pain and other symptoms
• provides help with end-of-life decision making (eg withdrawal of treatment)
• assists with advance care planning
• intends neither to hasten nor postpone death
• offers bereavement support.
Palliative Care team
Specialist Palliative Physician Dr Hana Thompson
Dr Thompson consults in all areas of Palliative Medicine, providing palliative services in the outpatient clinic, hospital inpatient wards and to community consumers.
Dr Thompson studied Medicine at the University of Melbourne, undertaking further hospital-based training in Melbourne. Dr Thompson then completed General Practice training and further specialist training in palliative medicine across various sites in metropolitan Melbourne.
Palliative Clinical Nurse Consultants
Our Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Consultants provide palliative support across Bass Coast.
With specialist palliative knowledge and experience, they are committed to providing high quality care and support to individuals and their carers living with a range of life-limiting illnesses.
The priority is providing holistic care that aligns to an individual’s goals and wishes to ensure quality of life. The Clinical Nurse Consultants work with a multi-disciplinary approach alongside medical teams, allied health and nursing staff, ensuring a collaborative approach to patient-centred care.
They help with the coordination of care for individuals between the inpatient palliative setting, community palliative setting and also specialist reviews as required with the Specialist Palliative Physician Dr Hana Thompson or Palliative Care Consultancy Gippsland.
Community palliative nursing
Bass Coast Health Palliative Care Service is about living well, with the focus on supporting consumer comfort and independence in the home. The Palliative Care Nurses can:
• provide access to limited out of hours nursing service 7 days a week
• support and provide education to consumers and carers
• liaise closely with carers
• liaise closely with other healthcare providers such as doctors, specialists and allied health
• provide access to consult with a specialist palliative care physician/nurse practitioner if/when needed
• arrange equipment to provide safe and more effective care of the consumer in their own home. Costs will be discussed as applicable
• organise hospital/hospice respite if needed
• follow-up bereavement visits and referral for grief counselling as required.
Referral to palliative services
A doctor’s or health professional’s referral is required. Additional information is required relevant to the referral e.g. recent scans and test results, and/or specialist letters.
Please complete Referral form MR-316 Palliative Care Referral Triage and Transfer Form V4 Fillable.pdf and email to district.nursing@basscoasthealth.org.au
More information
Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Consultants
0475 388 485
palliativecareservices@basscoasthealth.org.au
District Nursing & Palliative Care
5671 9219
District.nursing@basscoasthealth.org.au
Useful resources
- Cancer Council: Cancer information and support | Cancer Council
- Care Search Palliative Care Knowledge: CareSearch palliative care knowledge network
- Gippsland Region Palliative Care Consortium: Gippsland Region Palliative Care Consortium
- Griefline: Griefline - Grief Support - You're Not Alone
- National Association for Loss & Grief: NALAG Grief Support: FREE Loss, Grief and Trauma Support across Australia
- Palliative Care Australia: Palliative Care Australia
- Palliative Care Victoria: Palliative Care Victoria - Home