NPCW 2026 – Getting to the heart of it: Big Questions. Real Answers.
‘Show your heart for Palliative Care‘ – this initiative aims to have large orange hearts displayed around communities, to raise questions and start conversations.
National Palliative Care Week will run from Sunday 10 May thru to Saturday 16 May.
Why conversations about palliative care matter
As Australia’s population ages (including rapid growth in the number of people aged 85 and over), and with dementia now the leading cause of death nationally, access to palliative care is more crucial than ever. While need is growing with an ageing population, palliative care is for anyone of any age with a life-limiting illness – including children and young people.
Meanwhile conversations about palliative and end-of-life care are often avoided because they can feel confronting or “too soon”, and many people aren’t sure what palliative care is or when it can help. National Palliative Care Week is a chance to change that – by encouraging earlier conversations and connecting people to trusted information, tools and support.
This year the Barwon SouthWest and Grampians regions are working together, we hope to distribute Orange Hearts across Western Victoria with the aim of having these displayed in public areas as an awareness campaign.
A “show us your heart” photo competition will provide a platform to spread the message far and wide with photos of local initiatives submitted and posted on social media. Create an orange heart display in your community or workplace and share it on your socials. #showyourheartforpalliativecare
During National Palliative Care Week, why not start the conversation with those who care for you now and they will help to ensure that your choices are respected?
Did you know?
End of Life or Palliative Care
- can be provided at home (most people prefer to die at home), in hospital, in a hospice, in a residential aged care facility or anywhere else that someone has chosen to die (within reason)
- is for people of any age who have been told that they have a serious illness that cannot be cured.
- assists people with illnesses such as cancer, motor neurone disease and end-stage kidney or lung disease to manage symptoms and improve quality of life.
- may be beneficial from the time of diagnosis with a serious life-limiting illness.
End of Life or Palliative care can
- optimise the quality of life for a person who is expected to die
- help people live their life as fully and as comfortably as possible, for as long as possible
- be person and family-centred
- identify and treat symptoms which may be physical, emotional, spiritual or social
- ensure quality, coordinated health care, where increased services and support are essential
- extend to bereavement care.
Because palliative care is based on individual needs, services offered will differ, they may include:
- Pain relief and other symptom management e.g. vomiting, shortness of breath
- Equipment to aid care at home
- Family assistance to talk about sensitive issues
- Links to other services such as home help and financial support
- Referrals to respite care services
- Support for people to meet cultural meanings
- Support for emotional, social and spiritual concerns
- Counselling and grief support.
In the Grampians region your local end of life or palliative care specialist teams are:
- Ballarat Hospice Care Inc.
- Central Grampians Palliative Care
- Bacchus Marsh Community Palliative Care Service
- Wimmera Palliative Care Service
- Grampians Regional Palliative Care Team
- Gandarra Palliative Care Unit
