Singapore Hospice Council

1800-333-6666

(Hospice Helpline)

[ What is hospice and palliative care? ]

Hospice and palliative care is a holistic approach that cares for patients going through the last stages of their lives. It aims to meet all needs - physical, emotional, psychosocial and spiritual, in order to alleviate suffering and maximise quality of life for patients and their loved ones. Staff and volunteers work in multi-professional teams to enable patients to live fully and provide support to these patients and their families.

Palliative care is a form of specialized care that focuses on pain relief and pain management for pain caused by illnesses or treatments. Such care is provided in both hospitals and hospices. Hospice care focuses on the emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing of the patient on top of the physical wellbeing. It includes services that not only cater to the individual patient, but also facilitate bonding between patients, friends, families and volunteers. Hospices function on the belief that each individual should have a pain-free and dignified death, and that the family of the dying should have support during this difficult period.

Hospice and palliative care is not restricted to any one type of life-limiting illness. Although cancer is the most common ailment of patients receiving hospice and palliative care, a patient with any condition that is terminal and life limiting can be cared for properly under hospice and palliative care. An important point to note about hospice and palliative care is that it is generally provided for patients who have been diagnosed as having just months to live, and not years. Hospice and palliative care can be still provided for those who choose to receive it in the early stages of their illness.

A common misconception about hospice and palliative care is that it is a service that is provided for patients staying permanently at the hospice. In fact, most hospice and palliative care receivers are cared for in their own homes. In such cases, the primary caregiver is a family member and hospice caregivers provide support. Some patients choose to utilise the day-care services at the hospice - patients would spend the day in the hospice and are brought back to their homes in the evening.

Hospice and palliative care is not as simple as a nurse providing the necessary medications to the patient or a nurse aide bathing the patient. Hospice and palliative care is provided by a close-knit team of the patient's doctor, nurses, nurse aides, social workers, counsellors and therapists, as and when their services are needed. Hospice and palliative care aims to provide all-rounded care and support to both patients and their families in various ways such as pain management, psychological and physiological therapy, coaching for caregivers on basic caregiving, and bereavement counselling for surviving family and friends.

One does not need to be financially well off in order to engage the services of a hospice care team. Hospice and palliative care services are provided at very low costs, and are often covered by government medical care programs in many countries.

Receiving hospice and palliative care does not mean that patients are moving towards death. There have been cases where the conditions of these patients have stabilized under the care of hospice caregivers.