In Victoria, the provision of effective in-home palliative care relies on collaboration between GPs and specialist community palliative care providers. This enables multidisciplinary and locally-based healthcare providers to deliver person-centred, holistic care to people during their end-of-life treatment, and support their families and networks. In most cases a person’s GP is at the centre of their palliative care.
Working with community provider, Eastern Palliative Care (EPC), EMPHN developed and coordinated a training program to educate and facilitate connections between key stakeholders involved in supporting people needing palliative or end-of-life care – in particular, primary care providers, aged care providers and community care providers.
Dr Chien-Che Lin, Palliative Medicine Specialist from Eastern Palliative Care, provided his clinical and personal expertise throughout the design and implementation of the GP Palliative Care Refresher workshops, which were delivered between May 2022 and June 2023. Accredited through the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), the training focused on four key themes.
‘We developed the training to address the ways in which GPs can support people to die well at home, effective collaborations between care providers, challenges providing in home care and the emotional/spiritual needs of people during end-of-life care,’ said Dr Lin.
‘Some of the components delivered were practical including medication prescribing, advanced care planning, personal care support, verification and certification of death; balanced with more holistic issues such as avenues for support and counselling for both the client and their family members.’
‘Working with EMPHN to deliver the training enabled us to connect with a wide range of GPs within the region. Having it accredited by RACGP also meant that the training delivered Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points for attendees, formally adding to their training hours.’
‘The EMPHN team provided professional advice and support. The feedback from attendees has been very positive and we hope that we can deliver more in the future,’ says Dr Lin.
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