Palliative Care Australia (PCA) released a report on findings from its 2024 National Palliative Care Workforce Survey at the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference in Brisbane.
The survey was commissioned by PCA and conducted by Winton Research & Insights from May-August 2024. The final report is based on the views of 1,400 health and aged care professionals, workers and volunteers regarding critical issues affecting the delivery of palliative and end-of-life care. Of those 1,400 respondents, 31% were from NSW.
Palliative Care Australia CEO Camilla Rowland said the report is a wake-up call for funders and policymakers.
“The survey revealed a clear workforce perception that the need for palliative care is increasing, but the additional investment needed to meet that demand has not,” Ms Rowland said.
“The underlying theme in the survey report is that increasing demand for care, funding constraints and workforce shortages has placed strain on services, professionals and volunteers. That means increasing limitations on access to palliative and end-of-life care, and increasing stress on the palliative care workforce.”
Key survey findings
In specialist palliative care settings:
- 90% of respondents reported increased demand for specialist palliative care in the previous year, but only 28% said funding met that demand.
- 69% agreed the palliative care service where they worked had difficulty recruiting staff, and 48% reported difficulty retaining staff in the previous year.
- Only 33% agreed the palliative care service where they worked had enough staff to ensure high quality care for every patient.
- Just 16% agreed funding for their palliative care service was sufficient to provide out-of-hours care to all who need it.
- 70% of palliative care volunteer respondents agreed that their service had increased demand for palliative care in the previous year, with only half agreeing their service had capacity to admit and care for all patients who required their service.
In primary care settings:
- 72% of primary care workers agreed that demand for palliative care had increased in the previous year.
- Only 18% of primary care workers said that the boundaries between their role and the role of specialist palliative care services was clear.
- 96% of primary care workers agreed that early discussion of palliative care is critical, but only 11% agreed their service was adequately funded to provide palliative care in the previous year.
In aged care settings:
- 83% reported that the aged care service where they work provided palliative care to all those who needed it.
- Only 39% of aged care workers agreed that the service where they work was adequately funded to provide palliative care in the last year.
- Despite the Aged Care Royal Commission’s vision that palliative care become ‘core business’ in aged care, half of the aged care workers surveyed reported either no change (37%) in the quality of palliative care provided in the past year, or decreased quality (12%).
Regarding Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD):
- Half of respondents asked about VAD (49%) said that the introduction of VAD had actually increased demand for palliative care, while just 2% said it had decreased demand for palliative care.
About the 2024 National Palliative Care Workforce Survey and report on findings
The full survey report Australia’s palliative care workforce – Challenges and Opportunities is a 71-page report that describes workforce perceptions of:
- Demand for palliative care
- Adequacy of funding and resources
- Recruitment and retention challenges
- Preparedness to provide a palliative approach in all health and aged care services
- Integration between the various services that provide care to people with life-limiting illnesses
- The introduction of voluntary assisted dying in all states.
Over half the survey respondents (53% or 738 people) worked in specialist palliative care services, 18% worked in aged care, 9% in primary care, 10% other health care including oncology services, hospital Emergency Departments and Intensive Care Units and 10% were volunteers.
Read the full report, short summary and infographic here: Australia’s palliative care workforce: Challenges and opportunities – Palliative Care Australia
Do you agree with the key findings from this survey? If you don’t agree with some of these findings, why don’t you agree? Is there anything you would like to share with us about access to palliative care, demand, funding, the workforce, education, VAD, wellbeing or self-care? Click here to confidentially share any additional thoughts you have with Palliative Care NSW. These will not be shared publicly but will further inform future advocacy and development of programs to meet the needs of the sector.
Share your thoughts with Palliative Care NSW on any topic.
These will not be shared publicly but will further inform future advocacy and development of programs to meet the needs of the sector. Personal details are optional fields. Click HERE to share your thoughts.