5th January 2024

What is Palliative Care?

Palliative care encompasses a large range of services offered to people with conditions that are deemed to be life-limiting. It is holistic in nature and includes symptom control, psychosocial and spiritual care, both to patients and their loved ones. It, therefore, benefits from a strong multidisciplinary team approach. Life-threatening illnesses that benefit from palliative care include malignancy, frailty, neurological diseases and end-stage organ failure.

Palliative care can start at the beginning of a patient’s diagnosis of a life-threatening condition and can continue until the end of their life, sometimes extending beyond their death for bereavement care of loved ones. Varying terms can describe different aspects of palliative care, as highlighted in the definitions below.

Definitions

• End-of-life care: Care of individuals in their last 12 months of life
• Terminal care: Care of individuals in their last few weeks of life
• Bereavement care: Care of individuals and their loved ones during their illness and after death

References

• BNF. Prescribing in Palliative Care [Internet]. [cited 2023 Jul 16]. Available from: https://bnf.nice.org.uk/medicines-guidance/prescribing-in-palliative-care/
• World Health Organization. Palliative Care [Internet]. [cited 2023 Jul 16]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/palliative-care