Palliative care patients need timely access to symptom control medicines to avoid unnecessary suffering or unwanted transfers to inpatient facilities.
The new National Core Community Palliative Care Medicines List identifies four medicines for use with home-based palliative patients in the terminal phase who require urgent symptom relief.
Most common terminal phase symptoms in uncomplicated palliative care patients can be optimally managed using medicines from the List.
The List, developed by caring@home with key national stakeholders, will support standardised, quality palliative care by improving access to medicines in the community.
- Prescribers should familiarise themselves with prescribing and consider using the medicines in the List, where clinically appropriate
- Community pharmacists should stock the medicines in the List
- State and Territory governments and local networks should consider aligning local lists to promote standardisation of best-practice care.
More information is available on the caring@home website
