Ask your GP, medical specialist or other health professional about what services you may need and a referral. Or you can contact a palliative care service yourself or for someone else. You don’t usually need a referral but it can be helpful. Organising care sooner rather than later will reduce stress on you and your family. You can find out what help is available to you now, and what you may want or need in the future. This will give you time to better understand and manage any physical symptoms (such as pain or nausea), and to consider your emotional, cultural, social and spiritual needs.
→ READ MORE: Can I still have cancer treatment?
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Prof Meera Agar, Palliative Care Physician, Professor of Palliative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney, IMPACCT, Sydney, NSW; Anne Booms, Nurse Practitioner, Palliative Care, Icon Cancer Centre Midlands, WA; Nicola Champion, Consumer; John Clements, Consumer; Dr Alexandra Clinch, Palliative Medicine Specialist and Deputy Director, Palliative Care, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital, VIC; A/Prof Jaklin Eliott, School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, SA; Dr Jemma Gilchrist, Clinical Psychologist, Mind My Health, NSW; McCabe Centre for Law and Cancer, VIC; Caitlin MacDonagh, Clinical Nurse Consultant, Palliative Care, Royal North Shore Hospital, NSW; Dr Roya Merie, Radiation Oncologist, Icon Cancer Centre, Concord, NSW; Dr Deidre Morgan, Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying, Flinders University, SA; Caitriona Nienaber, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council WA; Palliative Care Australia.
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