Palliative care FAQs

Families are welcome to ring at any time, but staff may not always be able to answer if they are busy looking after patients. The best time to ring is between 9am to 3pm when a ward clerk is available.

It works best if you or your family chooses one spokesperson, who can then update the rest of your friends and family on your progress.

Pets are welcome to visit if they have a calm temperament and are not likely to be aggressive or excessively noisy, as this can distress other patients. Dogs need to have been washed within the past week and immunisation needs to be current.

The unit partners with a number of specialist community palliative care services who will take over your care once you are discharged. This means that once you return home, they will be your primary contact. Their specialist nurses will visit you at home and they are available by phone 24-hours-a-day. If you need to return to the unit, the community palliative care service can help facilitate this.

The specialist community palliative care services will help you with pain and symptom management, family support and counselling.

People are usually visited weekly or fortnightly, however if symptoms are unstable or the person is deteriorating then they will be visited more frequently depending on the persons individual need. If anything changes and you need them, you are able to ring them on their 24 hour contact number.  People who are stable over time may be discharged from the service.

Because Austin Health is a public hospital, it allocates single rooms to patients based on their individual needs rather than their insurance status.

Television and phone access require payment, whether you are a private or public patient. 

If you want to die at home, the unit will do its best to support your decision, in partnership with the community palliative care services. Should you or your family change your mind at any time, the community service can arrange your transfer back to the unit.