Palliative care

Palliative care alleviates and improves the quality of a patient's life when they have a serious illness. This is an approach to care that concentrates on relieving the symptoms, pain and stress of a serious illness, whatever the diagnosis or stage of disease. It attends to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of both patients and their families. Palliative care teams work in partnership with healthcare professionals to provide individual support, advice and comfort throughout the illness journey. Clearly, comfort in palliative settings is the ultimate goal of care to increase the quality of patients' lives and foster dignity for those who have complicated medical conditions.