What Is Palliative Care – And How Is It Different to Hospice Care?

During National Palliative Care Week May 10-16, many people find themselves asking an important question:

What exactly is palliative care… and is it the same as hospice care?

These terms are often used interchangeably but they are not the same thing.

What is palliative care?

Palliative care is specialised support for people living with a life-limiting illness. Importantly, palliative care can begin early in an illness, even at the point of diagnosis—and it can sit alongside active or aggressive treatment. This means someone might be receiving chemotherapy, dialysis, or other treatments while also receiving palliative care.

This is where there is often confusion. Palliative care is not about stopping treatment. It’s about adding an extra layer of support so that people can live as well as possible, for as long as possible.

Palliative care is not just about managing physical symptoms like pain or fatigue. It also allows for:

• earlier support, not just crisis care

• honest, compassionate conversations

• emotional wellbeing and psychological care

• inclusion of family and carers

• the promotion of dignity, choice, and meaning

• spiritual and existential questions

  
  

At its heart, palliative care is about quality of life—whatever that means for the individual and their family.

Who is involved in palliative care?

Palliative care typically uses a team approach and this team might include:

• GPs and medical specialists

• nurses

• allied health professionals such as speech therapists, OTs and dietitians

• counsellors, social workers and spiritual care providers

  
  

Think of it as a care network that wraps around the person and their family, rather than focusing on just one aspect of need.

Palliative care and dementia

One of the most important and often overlooked areas for palliative care is dementia. Dementia is a life-limiting illness, yet many people don’t recognise it this way.

Because progression is often gradual, support is sometimes introduced too late. This is a missed opportunity to provide earlier comfort, planning, and emotional care. Palliative care for dementia can begin well before the latter stages of this disease are evident.   

It can support individuals and families living with dementia to navigate:

• adjustment after diagnosis

• changes in identity and independence

• communication and relationship shifts

• planning for future care

• the emotional, social and psychological impacts on both the person with a diagnosis and their inner crew

  
  

What is hospice care?

Hospice care is a type of palliative care, but it’s more specific.

In the Australian context, hospice care typically refers to care provided in the final months of life, when treatment is no longer focused on cure, and the priority shifts fully to comfort and dignity.

Hospice care often takes place in a dedicated hospice facility, but it can also happen at home or in residential care.

A simple way to understand the difference:

• Palliative care: holistic support from early in the illness, alongside treatment

• Hospice care: happens later in the final stages of life, when comfort is the focus.

  
  

Both are deeply important—but they serve different moments in the journey.

Why this distinction matters

One of the biggest misconceptions is that accepting palliative care means “giving up”, however, it can be quite the opposite.

It encourages:

• gaining support earlier

• having clearer conversations about what matters

• reducing unnecessary suffering

• feeling more in control of care and choices

  
  

In conversations from The Waiting Room Revolution, including those featuring Brisbane’s Dr Ashwin Kaniah, there is a strong call to re-humanise healthcare.

He speaks about the need to move beyond purely clinical models and create space for:

• honest conversations

• emotional truth

• relational care

• and the complexity of living with illness

  
  

Palliative care, at its best, embodies this.

In Australia, we’re increasingly recognising that good care at the end of life isn’t just about extending time—it’s about supporting the person within that time to have quality of life and dignity.

How do you access palliative care in Brisbane and Queensland?

In Queensland, access to palliative care usually happens through a referral pathway.

Referral options include:

• GP (General Practitioner) – often the first and most common referral point

• Medical specialists – such as oncologists, neurologists, or geriatricians

• Hospitals – particularly during or after an admission

  
  

In most cases, a referral from a health professional is required to access specialist palliative care services.

In some situations, you or a family member can:

• contact local palliative care services directly to ask about eligibility and options

• request a referral from your GP after initiating the conversation

  
  

What services might look like:

In Brisbane and surrounding areas, palliative care can be delivered through:

• community-based palliative care teams who visit you at home

• hospital-based services

• outpatient clinics

• aged care settings

  
  

Care is tailored to the individual’s needs and can change over time. Most importantly, it’s about maintaining quality of living and actioning choice, even as life changes.

If you or someone you love is navigating illness you don’t have to wait until things are critical to seek support. At Ground Zero Counselling, this holistic, human-centred approach is at the heart of our work. You are welcome to reach out for support, conversation, or guidance at any stage.