What is covered in the Palliative Care guidelines?

The Palliative Care guidelines address the care of patients with a life-limiting illness when the goals of care have shifted from managing disease and prolonging life towards optimising the quality of remaining life—see What is palliative care?.

The principles of palliative care detailed in these guidelines can be applied to the care of any patients with a life-limiting illness, at any stage of their illness—see Which patients should receive palliative care? and When can palliative care be introduced?.

Any clinician who cares for patients with a life-limiting illness can follow these guidelines to adopt a palliative approach to a patient’s care; in many cases it does not involve complex interventions—see Who provides palliative care?. In these guidelines, a ‘patient with palliative care needs’ means any patient receiving a palliative approach to their care, regardless of who is providing that care.

Many people are uncomfortable discussing their own death or the death of someone close, and healthcare professionals may find the prospect of caring for dying patients confronting. These issues are discussed in:

• Communicating with and supporting patients with palliative care needs
• Advance care planning
• Decision-making and ethical challenges in palliative care
• Family support in palliative care
• Support for carers in palliative care
• Healthcare professional wellbeing in palliative care
• Loss, grief and bereavement.

Guidance on Medication management includes specific considerations when prescribing and managing medication regimens for patients with palliative care needs.

Principles and general aspects of symptom management in palliative care are discussed in Emergencies in palliative care, Principles of symptom management in palliative care and Principles of palliative care for common life-limiting illnesses. Topics covering the management of specific symptoms in palliative care are organised by body system. Care in the last days of life discusses principles of care and gives recommendation for management of symptoms during this phase.

Specific aspects of palliative care in children are outlined in Principles of paediatric palliative care. Detailed guidance on the care of children is beyond the scope of these guidelines; links to comprehensive national resources are included in the topic.

These guidelines do not address specific considerations in pregnant or breastfeeding patients. Management may differ in these patients; seek advice from an experienced clinician.