What is Palliative Care?

The phrase “palliative care” means “treatment directed at relieving symptoms”. Nowadays we use that phrase when cure of the disease itself is no longer a possibility. In other words, the aim of palliative care is to relieve your symptoms as much as possible using any or all of the different treatments available.

Discussing this topic – even thinking about it – is almost always quite difficult. To try to think about, and plan for, care and support while acknowledging that cure is no longer an option is never easy. We hope that this section will help you and make it easier for you to consider the many options that are available to you. But it’s always a difficult process to think about, to discuss and to plan for - so take all the time you need. There’s no need to read all of this section at once. In fact, it may be not only easier, but better, to read it in several chunks, and discuss things with your friends and nurses, doctors or other professionals as you go along. So if at any stage you feel upset by what you’re reading about, or that there is just too much to think about, take a break. Stop and talk to the people around you - you might even want to ask them to read the section for friends and family in this programme. Then – if you want – you can read further, at your own pace, in your own time.

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This page was last updated: October 27th, 2004 at 9:52am.