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What is end-of-life care?
End-of-life care, or palliative care, is care provided for people of all ages who have a life limiting illness, with little or no prospect of cure, and for whom the primary treatment goal is quality of life. This type of care uses a holistic approach – managing pain and other symptoms, whilst also addressing the physical, emotional, cultural, social and spiritual needs of the person, their family and their carers. It focuses on ‘living’ well until death.
The World Health Organization (2003) states that palliative care:
- provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms
- affirms life and regards dying as a normal process
- intends neither to hasten nor postpone death
- integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care
- offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death
- offers a support system to help the family cope during the patient’s illness and in their own bereavement
- uses a team approach to address the needs of patients and their families, including bereavement counselling, if indicated
- will enhance quality of life and may also positively influence the course of illness, and
- 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 those investigations needed to better understand and manage distressing clinical complications.
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