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Palliative care is widely misunderstood. Many assume it’s just for the final days of life – a service focused on easing the process of dying.

That’s not what it is. Palliative care doctors and nurses are really expert at is improving quality of life through sophisticated symptom control. And there’s evidence that introducing palliative care early can actually prolong survival alongside enhanced quality of life. This is probably because people eat better, can exercise more, and aren’t enduring as much aggressive chemotherapy or radiation. 

Yet health professionals and patients resist referral because of the assumption that it means the end. But it doesn’t have to.

Those who received early palliative care were 2.5 times more likely to die in a place of their choosing.

A study in Victoria examined the pattern of referral to palliative care and how it correlated with people’s symptoms and quality of life. The findings were stark: while 72% of people with terminal cancer received palliative care, only a third received it for three months or more before they died. Shockingly, most only accessed palliative care in the last day or two of their lives.

Those who received early palliative care were 25% less likely to need an emergency department visit in the last month of life, 30% less likely to require a long hospital stay, and 2.5 times more likely to die in a place of their choosing – rather than in an emergency situation or acute hospital bed.

Cancer is far from the only reason people need palliative care, but the criterion that many palliative care specialists suggest for referral is this: would it be a surprise if this person died in the next 12 months? If the answer is no, then they are likely to benefit from the quality of life that palliative care can offer.