Palliative care in the Brisbane North PHN Region

Given the choice, most Australians would prefer to die at home. Being able to access medication close to home is key to providing at-home palliative care.

In early 2024, only 12% of pharmacies in the North Brisbane and Moreton Bay region had committed to stock core palliative care medicines.

Without local timely access, people in need may be hospitalised to get end of life medication. This reduces or removes choice people have over their setting of care and death.

Palliative Friendly Pharmacies are pharmacies that commit to supporting palliative care. By making a commitment, they allow people in our region to have greater choice in their care. 

Brisbane North PHN encourages all pharmacies to become Palliative Friendly Pharmacies. 

This survey is for pharmacists working in the North Brisbane and Moreton Bay region to provide feedback on the "Palliative Care Supports for Pharmacist in the North Brisbane and Moreton Bay regions" webpage. This feedback will help develop the resource further as well as guide other events and supports.

Between 1 August and 15 December 2024 (or until allocation exhausted), the PHN is offering a $50 e-giftcard as a token of thanks for feedback (limit of 1 gift-card per person). A minimum of 8 words per question is required to be eligible for a gift card.

Any comments or questions, please contact community.care@brisbanenorthphn.org.au.   

This survey is for feedback on the "Palliative Care Supports for Adult in the North Brisbane and Moreton Bay regions" resource. This feedback will help develop the resource further as well as guide other events and supports.

Between 1 August and 15 December 2024, the PHN is offering a $50 e-giftcard as a token of thanks for feedback (limit of 1 gift-card per person). 

Any comments or questions, please contact community.care@brisbanenorthphn.org.au.   

This survey is for primary care professionals to provide feedback on the "Palliative Care Supports for General Practice in the Brisbane North and Moreton Bay regions" resource. This feedback will help develop the resource further as well as guide other events and supports.

Between 20 March and 15 December 2024, the PHN is offering a $50 e-giftcard as a token of thanks for feedback (limit of 1 gift-card per person). 

Any comments or questions, please contact community.care@brisbanenorthphn.org.au.   

Brisbane North PHN is providing an opportunity for community aged care provider to host onsite face to face delivery of “How to have conversations about dying and grief” by Palliative Care Queensland free of charge. Brisbane North is further offering catering support of $100/session for the onsite face to face sessions.

To be eligible, community aged care providers must agree to undertake the roles and responsibilities set out below and acknowledge the terms and conditions. Opportunities are limited and are available until exhausted. Allocation is by order of eligible expression of interest (EOI).

Terms and Conditions

• Applying organisations must provide community aged care services in the Brisbane North PHN region. Whilst the focus is on upskilling PCWs, other staff members may participate in the training.
• Cancelling or rescheduling requires a minimum three (3) business days’ notice. If insufficient notice is given to Palliative Care Queensland (PCQ), an organisation may be charged the fee of the session ($350 ex GST). A session may be rescheduled twice before being forfeit.
• Organisations can put in an EOI for additional sessions once their initial session has been held successfully (subject to availability).
• Catering assistance is $100 (ex GST). The claiming of catering assistance is made through invoicing Brisbane North PHN after and within eight (8) weeks of the session taking place.
• Failure to comply with terms and conditions and roles and responsibilities may result in the organisation being invoiced for associated costs.

Roles and responsibilities 

For questions, feedback, and support, please contact Caroline Irle, Project Lead (Caroline.Irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au, or call (07) 3630 7382).

 Join us to celebrate the launch of the Living and dying well for people with disability: palliative and end of life care knowledge framework  

When: 7:30-9:30am Wednesday 28 February 2024
Where: Kedron Wavell, 21 Kittyhawk Dr, Chermside QLD 4032

This by-invitation event is open to people who contributed to the development of the framework. The event will consist of a networking breakfast with formal proceeding from 8:15-8:45. 

RSVPs close Tuesday 20 February 2024. After RSVPing, if you find you are unable to make it, or would like a colleague to attend on your behalf, please let us know on community.care@brisbanenorthphn.org.au. 

(Note: the wording of this survey has been dictated by an external consultant on behalf of the Department of Health and Aged Care. If you are unsure of any item, please go with what you think the question is asking)

The Death Literacy Index is a population based tool measuring people’s knowledge and skills that allow them to make active choices around end of life options, and understanding what contributes to people’s level of death literacy.

The shortened 29 question form is estimated to take 3-5 minutes. And includes 6 sections of scaled questions.

Scoring and analysis will be completed externally, but will help inform strengths, opportunities for improvements, key learnings, and standpoint against the Australian average.

Thank you for your interest. 

Your participation is voluntary and you may stop at any time. Any identifiable information shared will only be used by the Working Group and the PHN team supporting this project. 

A summary of collated and anonymised feedback may be shared with people outside Brisbane North PHN (eg The Department of Health and Aged Care as part of our funding agreement and other PHNs). No individual responses nor identifying information will be shared. 

If you have any question, comments, or concerns, please contact Caroline Irle (Project Lead, on caroline.irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au). 

Thank you for your interest. 

Your participation is voluntary and you may stop at any time. Any identifiable information shared below will only be used by the Working Group and the PHN team supporting this project. 

A summary of collated and anonymised feedback may be shared with people outside Brisbane North PHN (eg The Department of Health and Aged Care as part of our funding agreement and other PHNs). No individual responses nor identifying information will be shared. 

If you have any question, comments, or concerns, please contact Caroline Irle (Project Lead, on caroline.irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au). 

Thank you for your interest.

Background

Brisbane North PHN is currently implementing an action plan to improve access to at-home palliative care for people living with disability. One action within this plan is to create a knowledge framework for the care at the end of life for people with disability.

During consultations in 2022, a lack of knowledge and understanding of disability, palliative care, and NDIS system across all sectors involved in care at the end-of-life for people with disability was found. There is currently no single point of reference to guide training and education across all sectors.

Framework Development

A working group has formed to develop an end-of-life knowledge framework. The target audience for this framework includes workers from disability services, generalist health professionals, and specialist palliative care providers.  In addition to mapping the base common knowledge, the framework seeks to guide users to existing education and training opportunities and resources.

Consultation Sessions 

The working group are holding a consultation session for NDS members at 10-11am on Monday 14 August . The session will be held online via Microsoft teams. Once registered a draft of the framework and questions will be shared with the event calendar invite. 

Please directed any questions to Caroline Irle, project lead (Caroline.Irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au).

This survey will gather feedback from the Brisbane North Community Palliative Care Collaborative. 

It consists of seven sections:

1. Overall Impression 
2. Action Item: List of Palliative Friendly Pharmacies
3. Action Item: Consumer Resources 
4. Action Item: Pharmacy Campaign
5. Action Item: Prescriber Engagement 
6. Action Item: Funding Advocacy
7. Personal

Any questions or concerns, please contact Caroline Irle on caroline.irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au. 

This survey will gather feedback from the Brisbane North PHN people. 

It consists of seven sections:

1. Overall Impression 
2. Action Item: List of Palliative Friendly Pharmacies
3. Action Item: Consumer Resources 
4. Action Item: Pharmacy Campaign
5. Action Item: Prescriber Engagement 
6. Action Item: Funding Advocacy
7. Personal

Any questions or concerns, please contact Caroline Irle on caroline.irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au. 

The purpose of this survey is to learn about the thoughts, experiences and attitudes of managers of organisations who employ personal care workers, in community aged care, towards holding conversations about death and dying.

This survey will help inform Brisbane North PHN on projects to improve support for personal care workers as part of the Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care measure. 

All responses are confidential. Only deidentified and collated results may be shared with partner organisations. Please direct any questions or concerns to Caroline Irle, Project Lead on caroline.irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au. 

This survey consists of seven sections:

1. Overall Impression 
2. Action Item: List of Palliative Friendly Pharmacies
3. Action Item: Consumer Resources 
4. Action Item: Pharmacy Campaign
5. Action Item: Prescriber Engagement 
6. Action Item: Funding Advocacy
7. Personal

Brisbane North PHN are offering a $50 Gift Card as a token of thanks for your time in providing feedback. The final questions (section 7. Personal) at the end will be used to administer this gift card to recipients. All responses in this section will be removed from the other responses prior to survey analysis. 

Any questions or concerns, please contact Caroline Irle on caroline.irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au. 

The purpose of this survey is to learn about the thoughts, experiences and attitudes of personal care workers, in community aged care, towards holding conversations about death and dying. 

This survey will help inform Brisbane North PHN on projects to improve support for personal care workers as part of the Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care measure. 

All responses are confidential. Only deidentified and collated results may be shared with partner organisations. Please direct any questions or concerns to Caroline Irle, Project Lead on caroline.irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au. 

During consultations in 2022, prescribers and pharmacists described challenges in knowing which pharmacies stock palliative care medication, particularly those open out of hours. As part of the Palliative Care in Community Pharmacy Action Plan, Brisbane North PHN aims to create a list of palliative friendly pharmacies which is easily accessible by prescribers and pharmacists to improve awareness of pharmacies which support palliative care.

This survey will provide valuable insights on the criteria to be adopted for “palliative friendly pharmacies” and the format of the list.

The survey consists of up to 16 questions and is anticipated to take approximately 9 minutes to complete. There are seven (7) questions which will directly assist with the implementation of Action 1: List of Palliative Friendly Pharmacies. Four (4) questions will assist with the implementation of other items. Five (5) questions are for administrative purposes only.

As a token of thanks for your time, Brisbane North PHN is offering a $50 e-gift card for completing the survey.

All responses will be deidentified at the point of data analysis, with identifying question used for administrative purposes only.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Caroline Irle (caroline.irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au).

This project is supported by funding from the Department of Health under the Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care measure. 

Congratulations on recently completing a training session with Palliative Care Queensland. 

Brisbane North PHN was able to cover the cost of your attendance thanks to funding support for the Department of Health and Aged Care through the Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care measure. As part of the evaluation of Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care measure nationally, all people who attended the PCQ session are invited to undertake a Death Literacy Index. 

The Death Literacy Index is a population based tool measuring people’s knowledge and skills that allow them to make active choices around end of life options, and understanding what contributes to people’s level of death literacy. The shortened 29 question form is estimated to take 3-5 minutes. Participants will remain anonymous. Participation is voluntary and you can stop at any time. Scoring and analysis will be completed externally by an external consultant of the Department of Health and Aged Care, but will help inform strengths, opportunities for improvements, key learnings, and standpoint against the Australian average. 

(Note: the wording of the questions within this survey has been dictated by an external consultant on behalf of the Department of Health and Aged Care. If you are unsure of any item, please go with what you think the question is asking.)

Any questions or concerns, please contact Caroline Irle, Project Lead (Caroline.Irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au) 

Thank you for your support in completing this form.

During consultations in 2022, pharmacists and prescribers described challenges in knowing which pharmacies stock palliative care medication, particularly those open out of hours. As part of the Palliative Care in Community Pharmacy Action Plan, Brisbane North PHN aims to create and maintain a list of palliative friendly pharmacies which is easily accessible by prescribers and pharmacists to improve awareness of pharmacies which support palliative care.

This survey will provide valuable insights on the criteria to be adopted for “palliative friendly pharmacies” and the format of the list.

The survey consists of up to 20 questions and is estimated to take approximately 12 minutes to complete. There are eight (8) questions which will directly assist with the implementation of Action 1: List of Palliative Friendly Pharmacies. There are seven (7) questions which will help with the implementation of all action items in the Palliative Care in Community Pharmacy Action Plan. Five (5) questions are for administrative purposes only.

As a token of thanks for your time, Brisbane North PHN is offering a $50 e-gift card for completing the survey.

All responses will be deidentified at the point of data analysis, with identifying question used for administrative purposes only. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Caroline Irle (caroline.irle@brisbanenorthphn.org.au).

This project is supported by funding from the Department of Health under the Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care measure.