Carers

Caring for someone with a life-limiting illness can be an emotional experience but can also be rich and rewarding. Carers are considered part of the palliative care team so knowing what support is available can help you and the person you care for make the right choices.

Getting support will help you provide the best care you can and resources to support ‘care at home’ are available from multiple sources

 

Resources

  • The Quickguide was designed for a wide variety of people working in the healthcare, human services, social and community sectors whose everyday work brings them into contact with people who have a life-limiting illness, as a ‘why, when and how’ of referral to specialist palliative care.

    Click here to download the quick guide.

  • The HELP app can help you ‘take the lead’ and feel confident in coordinating the practical and emotional support that a family needs as they come to terms with a loved one reaching palliative care or end-of-life.

    Visit the Apple or Google Play store and search for “Healthy end of life Program” to download the Free HELP App or click here to be directed to the Health End of Life Program for more information

  • Improving Carer’s Quality of Life is a practical resource for health professionals working in palliative care services to fully understand the impact of the caring role. It explains the complexities of practical issues impacting on carers at home. It has been developed by experts and tested by experienced palliative care clinicians through the Southern Metro Palliative Care Consortium.

    Click here to be directed to the South Metro Region Palliative Care Consortium website to view the Improving Carer’s Quality of Life.

  • My Collaborative Care Plan, developed by La Trobe University, can help carers put things in place to make the most of all the personal and social networks available to them.

    With a Collaborative Care Plan, family, friends and neighbours will know how they can help. It makes it easier for people to provide support when they have a clear idea of what is needed and when it’s needed.

    Click here to view the Collaborative Care Plan

 

Useful Websites

  • Australian Carers Guide is Australia’s first and only publication specifically created for our informal primary carers.

    Everything carers want to know and need to know ALL IN ONE easy to read publication.

    Click here to be directed to the Australian Carers Guide website

  • This very well resourced website provides information (in the form of pathways) to address care across the last stages of life. Its sections include:

    Pathway 1: When someone needs care.
    Pathway 2: Caring when death is a possibility.
    Pathway 3: Preparing for dying.Pathway 4: When the person is dying.
    Pathway 5: After caring.

    Click here to visit the Carer Help website.

  • Carers Australia Vic provides advice, information and support for carers to improve their health, wellbeing, capacity, financial security and resilience. Information sessions for carers and service providers are held regularly throughout the state including in Gippsland.

    Click here to visit the Carers Australia Vic website.

  • Informed by research, HELP uses a strengths- and asset-based approach, with evidence-based health promotion strategies.

    By contributing to an integrated end-of-life care system, HELP seeks to enhance end-of-life’s social dimensions. And link these with the medical dimensions needed to support Australians nearing the end of their lives.

    Click here to be directed to the HELP website

  • Palliative Care Australia’s, ‘I’m a carer’ webpage provides information about helping someone close to you living with a life-limiting illness. There are many resources that can be downloaded.

    Click here to visit the Palliative Care Australia website.

  • Carers of people with a life-limiting illness can now access a new one-stop resource from Palliative Care Victoria. Help for Families and Carers gives information about services and resources available in Victoria and nationally.

    The help information was inspired by feedback from members and partners of Palliative Care Victoria. It aims to people caring for those with a life-limiting illness, such as some advanced cancers, organ failure, dementia and other conditions.

    Click here to visit the Palliative Care Victoria website.

 

Support Services

  • Care finders at Latrobe Community Health Service help older, vulnerable Australians to access the aged care and other services they need.

    Click here to view the Care finders in Gippsland brochure

    Click here to download the Care finder program referral form

  • Carer Gateway service providers can organise for emergency respite services to take over care while you recover.

    If you need emergency respite care, call Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737 at any time. You will speak to your local service provider who will talk through your options and book emergency respite care, where available.

    Click here to visit the Carer Gateway website.

  • The Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) helps senior Australians access entry-level support services to live independently and safely at home.

    Click here to visit the CHSP website.

  • For people in end of life or palliative care, a simple chance to reconnect with their lives, families and friends can mean the world. The Flying Doctor Memory Lane service supports people to visit a place of personal significance; to admire their own garden, feel the breeze of the seaside, or be surrounded by their loved ones and pets. The Memory Lane vehicles enable people in end of life care to overcome access barriers, visiting a place that holds meaning safely and comfortably. The Royal Flying Doctor Service’s expertise in transporting people to access needed health and well-being services means that they are well-placed to deliver on our commitment.

    Click here to visit the Flying Doctor Memory Lane website.

  • My Aged Care can assist with help at home, short-term care and transitioning to a residential aged care facility.

    Click here to visit the My Aged Care website.

  • Respite within a RACF is available for people who have an Aged Care Assessment Service (ACAS) assessment.

    Planned respite (short term stay) is frequently part of the care plan for a person living in their own home.

    Please consult with your GP to arrange an ACAS assessment or for more information about short stays in a RACF, visit the My Aged Care website by clicking here.

    If emergency respite care is needed, phone your local Commonwealth Respite and Carelink Centre on 1800 052 222 during business hours (Monday to Friday, 8.30am–5.00pm) or 1800 059 059 outside business hours.

  • The Support for PallCarers program is a collaboration between Calvary Health and Aged Care services, six palliative care consortia including Gippsland and Carers Victoria to support carers of people with palliative conditions throughout Victoria. The program aims to support approximately 50 carers each year. Funding is allocated quarterly to ensure that funds remain available for carers through the year. A range of online, in-person, and financial supports are available.

    As part of the program, carers can have access to:

    • Caring Til The End Online Workshops (see upcoming education)

    • Online Bereavement Support Groups

    • Quick access financial hardship and wellbeing payments

    • Short term in-home respite

    Click here for more information on the Support for PallCarers Program

    Click here to download the Application for Support for Carers fund

    Click here to download the Support for PallCarers Respite form

  • Very Special Kids provides counselling and support services to families caring for a child diagnosed with a life-threatening condition.

    Following the death of a child, families are supported through the bereavement support program.

    The organisation also operates the Very Special Kids House, an eight-bed children’s hospice, providing planned and emergency respite and end of life care.

    Click here to visit the Very Special kids website.

 

For Carers of People with Dementia

  • ‘Dementia’ is a guide, for families and friends of people with severe and end-stage dementia.

    This booklet will inform carers about what will happen to a person living with the final stages of dementia. It will encourage carers to consider in advance some of the issues that might require decisions about the care of the person with dementia.

    Click here to view the Dementia booklet.

  • Dementia Australia is the source of trusted information, education and support services. They exist to support and empower the estimated more than 400,000 Australians living with dementia and the more than 1.5 million people who are involved in their care.

    Click here to be directed to the Dementia Australia website

  • Getting to most out of respite care (a guide for carers of people with Dementia) is a guide developed by the Dementia Collaborative Research Centre, detailing stories about carers and their experiences of respite care, as well as advice and tips to help you make the most of your respite experience.

    Click here to download the guide.

  • How to understand what matters most to someone living with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia, and help them have a say in their health care.

    Click here to view

 

Financial and Legal Services

  • The Australian Government provide payments to people who provide daily care to someone with severe disability, a medical condition, or who is frail aged.

    Click here for more information.

  • A collaboration between the government, businesses and the community, the Carer Card Program has a wide range of discounts and benefits on offer including free public transport.

    Click here to visit the Carer Card website

 
This document was last updated on Monday 13 June 2022.