Palliative care

Palliative care is an approach to preventing and relieving suffering associated with serious illness. Its goals include improving quality of life for the person receiving care and for those close to them. Care may address pain, breathlessness, and other distressing symptoms, as well as psychological, social, practical, and spiritual concerns. It relies on understanding the person's needs and preferences, early recognition of suffering, and careful assessment rather than treating a diagnosis in isolation. International definitions describe palliative care as affirming life and neither seeking to hasten nor postpone death.

Palliative care is not limited to the final days of life. It can be introduced whenever a person's needs warrant it and may accompany treatment intended to control, slow, or cure an illness. The U.S. National Cancer Institute notes that palliative care can be given with or without curative care, and the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care describes it as applicable throughout an illness according to need. End-of-life care is a form of palliative care for people approaching death; the two terms are therefore related but not interchangeable.

Palliative care may be delivered in hospitals, outpatient clinics, long-term care facilities, community services, or at home. Many health professionals can provide basic palliative support as part of ordinary care. People with complex needs may benefit from a specialist, multiprofessional team that can include physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, therapists, and spiritual-care practitioners. Communication with patients and families helps align care with their goals, culture, and preferences. Support can also extend to caregivers during illness and, when needed, through bereavement.

Palliative care is relevant across ages and diagnoses, not only in cancer. It may be needed in cardiovascular and chronic respiratory disease, organ failure, neurological conditions, and other severe illnesses. Its availability depends on health systems as well as individual clinical needs. The World Health Organization identifies gaps in policy integration, professional training, and access to essential medicines for pain relief as continuing barriers. Integrating basic palliative care into primary, community, and home-based services, with specialist support for complex cases, is one approach to widening access.