Clare Holland House

Palliative Care focuses on supporting patients who have one or more chronic conditions, with intervention aimed at assisting those people to live complete and comfortable lives through symptom management and suitable treatment of their condition(s) as they progress to the need for end of life care.

The goal is to help patients achieve dignity, comfort and maximise the quality of life for the patient, family and loved ones.

All patients must be referred to Calvary’s Specialist Palliative Care Services by their General Practitioner, Specialist, another health service or an aged-care facility. These clinicians and services are familiar with the clinical indicators, criteria and symptom management requirements for referral to the service. Indicative admission criteria are described on the referral forms below. In most instances the Specialist Palliative Care Service will have had previous contact with the referring clinician or service. This enables each person’s referral and admission to be tailored to their wishes, condition and circumstances.

Specialist Palliative Care Services

Calvary Bruce Public Hospital’s Community Specialist palliative care services operate from Clare Holland House on our Barton campus. From this location we provide outpatient clinic services, care in the home or residential setting, and also inpatient hospice services.

Our palliative care service is tailored to each patient, with the main objective being to enable each patient to enjoy a fulfilling and comfortable lifestyle while still receiving appropriate and patient-centred care.

Clare Holland House Virtual Tour

Please watch the video below to take a virtual tour of Clare Holland House. Normally we can provide orientation visits for the family and friends of patients, but this is difficult under the COVID arrangements around access to health facilities.

Community Specialist Palliative Care Services

Clare Holland House Community Specialist palliative care services will:

Advise and support the primary care team
Manage distressing symptoms
Offer home visits if necessary
Facilitate access to equipment to support the patient to stay in the home setting as long as possible.
Provide telephone advice
Provide inpatient care at the ACT Hospice
Teach the family how to care for the patient
Support the bereaved

We provide palliative care as an inpatient service, at home or in residential facilities.

Patients can be admitted for pain and symptom management, respite care or end of life care.

Palliative Care Needs Rounds

Palliative Care Needs Rounds is a service provided to residents in Aged Care Facilities by a dedicated team of specialist palliative care nurses from Clare Holland House working in partnership with the staff of the facility.

The service identifies residents with declining health or significant health issues and works with the resident, their family, staff and other health care providers to develop an individualised care plan, to clarify the resident’s end of life wishes, and to ensure their non-medical arrangements are in place and understood by their family and close friends. The service also equips aged care facility with more knowledge and clinical skills in managing the resident in their place of residence, meaning visits to emergency service and unplanned hospital admissions can be reduced or avoided.

The service reaches into 28 Aged Care Facilities in the ACT.

A pilot study of the service was conducted in 2014-15; a randomised trial supported by Calvary Health Care, the Australian Catholic University and the University of Stirling was undertaken in 2017, and in 2019 the ACT Government provided ongoing funding for Palliative Care Needs Rounds to be expanded into every Aged Care Facility in the ACT.

Palliative Care Needs Rounds Resources

Palliative Care Needs Rounds is a unique, evidence-based way of improving palliative care for people living in residential care facilities for older people developed by the team at Clare Holland House, Calvary Public Hospital Bruce, ACT.

Calvary and University of Stirling are delighted to provide open access to a suite of resources to assist organisations to begin to implement Needs Rounds. Please click here to view these resources.

Resources for Patients, Family and Carers

Palliative Care patients, family members and carers can sometimes be faced with issues they may not have encountered before.

We have compiled some resources that may assist you to understand symptoms and issues that you have not previously experienced.

These may include food and nutrition, pain management, harm prevention, self-care and Advanced Care Planning.

These materials may not address all of your experiences and concerns. However, they will empower you to raise these matters with the doctors and health professionals involved in your treatment and care.

LifeCircle Australia provides practical and emotional support for people who are caring

Palliative Care Victoria Supporting a person who needs palliative care: a guide for families & friends

Department of Health Falls Prevention

QUT & Department of Health & Ageing Preventing Bed Sores & Pressure Injuries

Advance Care Planning Australia Advice for Family, Friends and Carers

Dying to Talk Australia Advanced Care Planning Discussion Starter

Services Referral Forms for Health Professionals

Referrals are required for the services provided by Clare Holland House. The referrals are available below, and must be completed by a health professional.

For Community referrals, please complete and email to the below address

Community Specialist Palliative Care Referral

E: [email protected]

For Palliative Aged Care Service referral, please complete and email to the below address

Palliative Aged Care Services Referral

[email protected]

For Inpatient referrals, please complete and email to the below address

Inpatient Admission

[email protected]

All referrals can be faxed to

02 6273 0338

Referral by GP, another hospital, specialist or healthcare provider