By Frances 
Palliative care at home means your loved one can receive comfort-focused medical care, pain management, and emotional support without leaving home. Queensland Health funds these services, so families across the state can access them at no cost.
If your loved one has a life-limiting illness, you’ve probably already started asking how all of this works in practice. And that’s a fair question, because there are referrals to sort out, care teams to get in place, and a lot of new information to take in all at once.
In this guide, PalAssist walks you through what to expect at each stage, who makes up the care team, and how families in Brisbane and across Queensland can access the right support.
What Is Palliative Care at Home in Queensland?
Palliative care at home is comfort-focused medical care that your loved one receives in their own home rather than a hospital. That includes pain relief, symptom control, emotional support, and help with daily tasks, all in a familiar environment.
Thankfully, Queensland Health funds palliative care services across metro and regional Queensland, so whether you live in Brisbane or a rural community, these services are available to support your family.
And one thing that often surprises families is that palliative care can begin at any stage of a life-limiting illness, not only when someone is dying (and yet, many families don’t realise this until much later).
How Health Professionals Help Meet Your Palliative Care Needs
Having a dedicated palliative care team come to your home means your loved one gets professional support from health professionals without leaving the place they feel safest. For many families, this is one of the biggest benefits of receiving palliative care at home.
Now, let’s look at who’s actually part of that team.
Your Home Care Team
Your palliative care team usually includes nursing staff, GPs, and allied health professionals like physiotherapists and social workers. Together, they assess your loved one’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs and build a care plan around what your family needs most.
Once that’s established, the focus shifts to what your care team helps with day to day.
What They Help With Day to Day
The team assists with medications, equipment, and daily care routines at home. They also help manage symptoms, monitor treatments, and adjust the care plan when needed. Families we’ve spoken to often say the biggest relief is not having to coordinate everything themselves.
Ultimately, your health care team works directly with your local hospital and specialist palliative care providers, so your family doesn’t carry that responsibility alone.
When a Life-Limiting Illness May Need Specialist Palliative Care
To be honest, this is one of the hardest calls a family has to make. Sometimes the pain gets worse. Sometimes the medications stop working the way they used to. Or maybe the emotional weight of it all becomes too much for everyone to carry. When that happens, it might be time to bring in specialists who deal with complex symptoms every day.
Doctors usually recommend specialist palliative care when symptoms become more complex or harder to manage at home. This might include severe pain, difficulty with medications, or emotional and psychological distress that your regular palliative care team can’t fully address (that’s a burden no family should carry alone).
If you reach that point, your GP, hospital doctors, or community palliative care service can organise a referral. And from there, a specialist palliative care team will step in alongside your existing health care team.
These specialists typically include palliative medicine doctors, clinical nursing staff, and allied health professionals who focus on managing life-limiting conditions and supporting families through the most difficult stages of care.
What to Expect From End-of-Life Care at Home
End-of-life care at home doesn’t mean care stops or slows down. If anything, it becomes more hands-on and more personal.
Here’s what typically changes during this stage of care:
| Area | What to Expect |
| Visits | Your palliative care team increases home visits to check on symptoms and adjust support as needed |
| Medications | Doctors adjust medications, including subcutaneous medicines, to keep pain and other symptoms under control |
| Family support | Your care team provides guidance on physical changes to expect and how you can offer comfort to your loved one |
This stage is about one thing: keeping your loved one comfortable and making sure your family knows what to expect. The palliative care team is there to walk your family through every change, so you’re never left guessing what comes next.
How PalAssist Can Support Carers Through End-of-Life
If you’re caring for someone at the end of life, you don’t have to figure everything out on your own. That’s exactly why PalAssist offers free palliative care support through registered nurses and allied health professionals who understand what your family is going through.
And one thing we hear from carers again and again is that the hardest part isn’t always the physical care. It’s not knowing what comes next, or whether you’re making the right decisions. That uncertainty can weigh on you, even when you’re doing everything right (because the person doing the caring needs care, too).
So when you need it, PalAssist gives carers access to practical advice on managing medications, daily routines, and honest guidance on what to expect as things change. These palliative care services are available to support carers and patients across Queensland, and every conversation is free and confidential.
Accessing Specialist Palliative Care in Brisbane and Across Queensland
Getting palliative care at home in Queensland usually starts with a referral from your GP or hospital care team. And believe it or not, once that referral is in place, the rest of the process becomes pretty easy.
Let’s look at how you actually get started.
- GP Referral: Talk to your GP or hospital doctors about a palliative care referral, and they’ll help determine whether home-based care fits your situation.
- Needs Assessment: Your local palliative care service then assesses symptoms, care needs, and available community resources.
- Care Planning: From there, your health care team works with your family to create a care plan that reflects your loved one’s wishes.
These steps apply across the state. In Brisbane, families access in-home palliative care through hospital outreach and community providers.
And for home-based patients in rural or regional Queensland, support is also available through telehealth and local health service teams committed to helping patients manage life-limiting conditions closer to home.
Your Family Deserves Comfort and Support at Every Step
Wherever you are in this journey, support is available, and it’s free. Palliative care at home gives families the chance to stay together in a familiar environment while still receiving the care and services they need.
And that support covers every part of the process, from early palliative care through to end-of-life care at home. You don’t have to manage any of it alone.
If you’d like to talk to someone who understands, PalAssist is here to help your family find the right services and connect with community resources. Call 1800 772 273 (free for Queensland residents) or chat online from 7 am to 7 pm, 7 days a week.