30 years on, National Palliative Care Week continues to provide a powerful platform to engage with community, the government and the sector. This years theme asked the question “What’s Your Plan?”.
For Palliative Care New South Wales (PCNSW) this is an essential week for us to support, with a dedicated online campaign and by hosting and participating in a wide range of events designed to raise awareness, build community, and celebrate the essential work of palliative care professionals and volunteers. From community conversations in regional towns to professional education events and national webinars, PCNSW staff engaged with local communities, healthcare professionals, Members of Parliament, and partner organisations to highlight the importance of quality palliative and end-of-life care.
The week began on Monday, 12 May, with Community Conversations held in Lismore, Wauchope, and across the Murrumbidgee Local Health District. These events coincided with International Nurses Day, celebrating the contributions of nurses to palliative care. You can refer to a special article we wrote about our palliative care nurses supporting the Palliative Care NSW Community Conversations by clicking HERE.
Throughout the week, PCNSW staff continued to connect with communities and health professionals across the state: from stalls and presentations in Gosford and Mullumbimby, to the PSA ASPIRE launch in Brisbane, and educational webinars such as the ACON and HETI sessions. Highlights included the 30th Anniversary celebration of Dungog Palliative Care and the PCNSW Professional Education Day on Friday 17 May, which brought together palliative care professionals in Sydney with regional hubs in Broken Hill, Buronga, Kempsey, Kyogle, and Wagga Wagga for a day of learning and collaboration. You can watch a video summary of the PCNSW Professional Education Day by clicking HERE.
This week of events highlights the commitment of PCNSW to continue to support those providing palliative care, and the wider community.
Celebrating Collaboration: Highlights from Organisations Across NSW During National Palliative Care Week
Beyond the events hosted by Palliative Care New South Wales (PCNSW), organisations across NSW came together in inspiring ways to honour National Palliative Care Week. From heartfelt community gatherings to vibrant education sessions, this year’s theme, “What’s Your Plan?”, sparked conversations, creativity, and compassion across healthcare settings, libraries, local councils, and hospitals.
In the Nepean Blue Mountains LHD, volunteers and healthcare professionals participated at information stalls at Nepean and Hawkesbury Hospitals, as well as at the Penrith Library. Therapy dog Sunny also made a special appearance, bringing smiles to palliative care patients. At the Village Café in Kingswood, community engagement flourished through warm conversations and resource sharing.
Further north, the Bellingen Hospital’s palliative care team, including allied health professionals, nurses, NUM, CNC and the administration staff, held a joyful afternoon tea to mark the occasion.
Meanwhile the Catholic Healthcare’s head office created an eye-catching display in reception featuring orange balloons and PCNSW resources.
In Lithgow, CNS2 Rachael Chalker and Aboriginal Health Worker Kaysan Penning curated a meaningful palliative care display using the PCNSW resources delivered.
Down the coast, the 2 West Palliative Care/Rehabilitation Ward at Bulli Hospital engaged staff with targeted education sessions on symptom management and end-of-life care practices, such as education on the Management of Terminal Agitation, The Management of Terminal Secretions, The use of a Syringe Drivers and Understanding PCOC complemented by light-hearted activities like a BBQ and fun-themed scrubs.
The Inpatient Palliative Care team at Calvary Health Care Kogarah, in collaboration with their Mission Integration team, organised several initiatives to mark National Palliative Care Week.
Activities were rich with both reflection and celebration, organised by Ben Taruc, Heather Dougall, Petula Storey, and Sharryn Fitzgerald.
To begin the week, the Mission Integration team distributed a hospital-wide email to celebrate and raise awareness of National Palliative Care Week. Complementing this, posters highlighting the theme “What’s Your Plan?” were displayed inside and outside the Palliative Care Unit and throughout Calvary Kogarah.
In a meaningful addition to their post-death care, they introduced Pocket Hearts from the 1000 Hearts project, initiated by Ben. This small gesture has been warmly received by families and provides a lasting memento during a difficult time. They hope to partner with them more in the future.
On Tuesday, their team held a foyer presentation to showcase their services and celebrate the role of palliative care. Merchandise from the team was made available and was mostly taken by Thursday. Heather created beautiful lettering displays, and Sharryn prepared an informative board featuring our services, research, family feedback, and bereavement support. During the event, they were touched by visits from families of past patients who expressed heartfelt appreciation for the care their loved ones received.
On Wednesday, they distributed merchandise to their nursing staff and promoted the use of relevant learning modules.
On Thursday, nursing staff participated in the My Health Learning module Beyond Cancer: Palliative and End of Life Care for Cardiorespiratory Failure.
They concluded the week on Friday, with a shared lunch among the multidisciplinary team, joined by their wonderful students from UTS. It was a time to pause, connect, and reflect after a demanding week. Handwritten thank-you notes were also distributed by Ben to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of our nursing team.
Overall, National Palliative Care Week at Calvary Kogarah was a great success. It provided an opportunity to raise awareness about palliative care and advance care planning, and to recognise and celebrate the dedication of their frontline staff.
Special thanks to Zeffy, their Volunteer Services manager for taking the celebration photos.
The John Hunter Hospital team’s creative stall encouraged visitors to reflect on their end-of-life wishes, writing and planting them like seeds, a powerful metaphor for living and dying with intention. The team conducted an information stall. They asked the visitors to the stall to take one of their ‘hearts’, think about what they want for their end of life or for their ‘bucket list’…open their heart and record it on the flower and plant it in the garden. The stall was very successful with great engagement throughout the day. There were also lots of discussion about ACP and ACD.
The Bankstown Community Palliative Care team hosted guided reflections, decorated with vibrant balloons and hosted celebrations that honoured both palliative care and International Nurses Day. The team also held a morning tea with sweets and a chance to reflect on their own plans at the end of life.
In photos:
The Community Nursing Team provides care coordination for palliative care clients.
Photo on the right: Sandra Sullivan (middle) is providing a guided reflection education session on ‘What’s Your Plan’.
Pallative Care Nurses (right), Janine Szombath, Kelly Bourke, Sarah Horn
Pallative care team (left), cutting the cake. Janine and Sarah are Specialist Palliative Care RNs, and Sandra Sullivan is the Community Palliative Care CNC.
‘Some of our team are on leave, but the photos show the pride the team has in providing Palliative Care to our community.’ said Sandra.
Liverpool Hospital’s Palliative Care 4C ward celebrated National Palliative Care Week with morning tea and a station for mindful art activities. Patients, families, carers and staff were asked to reflect on what matters most to them at end of life, with choices to paint, draw and create the symbolic butterfly in their art.
As part of Palliaitive Care Week, the Wollondilly Community Nursing Team planted forget-me-not seeds in pots labelled with this year’s theme ‘What’s Your Plan?’ The team have been giving the pots to their Community Palliative Care patients and Community health patients in home visits as well as to patients that come to their Tahmoor clinic.
The Braeside Hospital team invited patients, staff, family and carers to celebrate palliative care week through a series of events throughout the week. This included a Remembrance Service, a hospital wide morning tea, afternoon tea for the palliative care tea, and a palliative care information stall with a poster tree where families could write messages and hang them on the tree.
Over in Murrumbidgee LHD, the region hosted a large-scale expo in Wagga Wagga, an education day for health professionals, and two Remembrance Services in Wagga Wagga and Griffith, all of which drew powerful community participation and heartfelt moments.
Monday the 12th of May in Wagga Wagga they held a Community Expo – “Talk, Plan, Live: Planning for your future”, this event attracted over 60 community members and 60 staff specialists. This event included NSW Palliative Care hosted a two-hour community conversation session that sparked meaningful discussions and helped demystify palliative care, the afternoon included over 25 organisations with staff specialists sharing their expertise, knowledge and resources with community members.
Tuesday the 13th of May featured a Health Professionals Education Day titled “What’s the Plan?” this education day included 8 guest speakers and had over 60 attendees from various health disciplines including nursing, medical and allied health. The aim of the day was fostering valuable learning and interaction with staff.
Wednesday the 14th and Thursday the 15th they hosted Remembrance Services in Wagga Wagga (88 attendees) and Griffith (32 attendees). These events were deeply meaningful where we invited loved ones of their patients who have passed away to come together and stories shared that highlighted the lasting impact staff have on families.
The week concluded in Sydney at the Palliative Care NSW Professional Development Day, which some of their staff were lucky to attend, it was an incredible event and all who attended found it extremely beneficial.
In the Blue Mountains and Lithgow, the Belong Blue Mountains team hosted events at local clubs and RSLs, blending performance, peer support, and community connections. One participant, recently bereaved, left the event with new friends and a sense of comfort, an embodiment of the week’s mission.
Starting over at Club Lithgow on Tuesday 13 May, volunteer Helen shared her love of singing with her friend Gary, Ellen and Liz chatting to many people and some great community connections with Marilyn from CanAssist and Monqiue from the NBM Primary Healthcare Network. Rachael and Kaysan from the community palliative health team also popped by.
One lady, Gail, found out so much information and shared that her husband Mark who had died in February this year. Although sad for her, by the end of the morning, she was sitting round the table with new friends enjoying coffee and cake!
Wednesday, 14 May they enjoyed the welcome of Katoomba RSL and had good conversations with people needing information and support. They thanked the PSS volunteer, Kerry, who shared her Belong bags story. They also wish to thank Carolyn Wilkinson from Cancer Wellness Support, who gave her time to collaborate with them. Brenda from BM CanAssist also joined them.
Thursday, 15 May they held their final event at Springwood Sports Club with PSS volunteers Vicki and Margaret. Smaller numbers meant good quality conversations and a chance to connect with Barbara Mossman from NBM Primary Healthcare Network, Gail McGlinn, Palliative Clinical Nurse Consultant from Katoomba and Springwood hospitals and wrapping up the week’s events they welcomed Belong BM operations manager Frances Tinsley.
They had some great connections and conservations. The Belong Bag article also appeared in the BM Gazette which wraps up the week nicely.
Forbes and Parkes Hospital teams under “Team Lachlan” also showed dedication with their own events: Katie Carolan CNS2, Lee Mackenzie RN, Alex Aveyard Palliative Care OT and Shari Gaiter Admin.
Bathurst Base Hospital saw their palliative care team sharing resources and starting conversations at an informative hospital lobby display.
The Great Lakes Palliative Care Support team held 3 events during the week: Remembrance service, Information morning and Trivia night.
The Remembrance Service was followed by a morning tea listening to the beautiful voices of the Green Cathedral Choir, at the Community of Christ Church. in Tuncurry.
The Palliative Care Information morning session, had guest Speakers from Community Palliative Care team, Great Lakes Palliative Care Support, Dying with Dignity. They answered questions from the community and a morning tea was provided at the Tuncurry Beach Bowling Club
GLPCS Annual Trivia Night was themed ‘Shades of Blue’, with fun and games. All proceeds were used for the care and support of Palliative care patients, their Carers and Families in the local area of Forster.
National Palliative Care Week continues to provide a platform each year where we can increase awareness and understanding of palliative care. This year’s campaign “What’s your plan?” sparked important conversations across the community.
It is wonderful to see celebrations across regions and services within NSW growing year on year! PCNSW would like to thank every team, volunteer, and supporter who helped make this week an inspiring and unifying success!