State of Palliative Care Report
State of Palliative Care Report
With the support of the Tasmanian Government, Palliative Care Tasmania (PCT) produced the inaugural State of Palliative Care Report in 2021.
State of Palliative Care Report was a vital step in establishing clear and replicable measures for indicators of success and challenges across the sector.
The biennial report will give community, organisations, and state government policy makers insight into the movement of trends across baseline datasets showing the developing capability and capacity of the sector.
This baseline workforce data provides a snapshot of who makes up the palliative care workforce and determines capability and capacity within the sector.
What was investigated?
The report focused on workforce factors, including key and newly defined segments of specialist palliative care, generalist palliative care, community palliative care and the unpaid segment of volunteers and carers.
We need to create, sustain, and retain a viable palliative care sector and workforce that recognises a more inclusive definition of ‘workforce’ and values the roles of both paid and informal and community support that make up our communities of care.
Why was it investigated?
There is evidence in both Tasmania and nationally that the current demand for palliative care services is not being met.
The disparity between demand and supply will continue to grow, with the demand for palliative care being forecast to increase nationally by 135 percent by 2060. (KPMG Investigating to Save – https://palliativecare.org.au/download/16512/)
Tasmania’s problem is more acute, due to its relatively older population profile.
To create, sustain, and retain a viable palliative care sector it is critical to understand the existing workforce and identify key issues and gaps.
How was it investigated?
The information the report builds on data gathered as part of the Workforce Development Implementation Plan (2020), which involved the development of a baseline profile of the sector. The workforce data was sought for the following broad service segments:
- Specialist Palliative Care Services
- Generalist Palliative Care Services
- Community Care Services
- Unpaid Carers and Volunteers
The following data was sought:
- Numbers of services, and their regional location
- Numbers of full time equivalent (FTE) workers in each category
- Numbers of workers (head count) in each category
- Job roles in each category
- Numbers of health care professionals and non-health care professionals in each category
- Key training issues for respondents
- Key issues for the sector.
The data collection methods used included sourcing from authoritative data sources, an online survey and phone/email consultations with selected stakeholder consultations.
The next State of Palliative Care Report will be published in 2023.
Strengthening Communities of Care
There are a number of initiatives that make up the Strengthening Communities of Care Workforce Development program.
Click on a project below to find out more.
