What is Palliative Care?

When someone is diagnosed with a serious illness, the focus often shifts immediately to treatment - tests, medications, procedures. But somewhere along the way, an equally important question gets overlooked: How is the person actually feeling through all of this?

That’s where palliative care comes in.

Often misunderstood as something reserved for the final stages of life, palliative care is actually about improving quality of life at any stage of illness. It supports people not just in surviving their condition, but in living through it with greater comfort, clarity and dignity.

Palliative care is a specialised branch of healthcare focused on improving the quality of life of people living with serious or chronic illnesses.

It aims to prevent and relieve suffering by addressing symptoms that affect physical comfort, emotional well-being and overall day-to-day functioning. This includes managing pain, breathlessness, nausea, fatigue, sleep disturbances, loss of appetite and other distressing symptoms that often accompany serious illness or intensive treatment.

But palliative care goes beyond symptom relief.

It also addresses the emotional, psychological and practical challenges that come with illness - helping patients cope with stress, fear, uncertainty and the impact that illness can have on relationships, work, independence and daily routines.

Importantly, palliative care is not about stopping treatment. It is designed to work alongside curative or life-prolonging therapies, making the treatment journey more manageable and patient-centred.

Palliative care is not limited to one specific disease or condition. It can benefit anyone living with a serious illness that significantly affects quality of life, comfort or daily functioning.

This includes individuals with:

• Cancer

1. Heart failure

1. Chronic kidney disease

1. Chronic lung diseases such as COPD

1. Neurological conditions like Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis

1. Advanced liver disease

1. Dementia, other progressive cognitive disorders

1. Long-term chronic pain conditions

Palliative care is also valuable for people undergoing aggressive treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation, major surgeries or long-term hospitalisation, where managing side effects and maintaining quality of life becomes essential.

What determines the need for palliative care is not just the diagnosis, but the level of symptom burden and how much the illness is affecting the person’s physical and emotional well-being.

One of the most common misconceptions about palliative care is that it begins only when treatment options are exhausted. In reality, palliative care is most effective when introduced early.

It can begin at the time of diagnosis of a serious illness and continue alongside active treatment throughout the course of care.

Early palliative care helps:

• Improve symptom control before discomfort becomes severe

1. Reduce emotional stress and anxiety

1. Support better communication between patients, families and doctors

1. Help patients make informed treatment decisions

1. Improve overall quality of life during treatment

Research has shown that early integration of palliative care can lead to better patient outcomes, fewer emergency hospital visits and improved emotional resilience for both patients and caregivers.

Rather than being a last resort, it should be viewed as an added layer of support from the beginning.

Palliative care is holistic in nature, meaning it addresses the complete experience of illness rather than focusing only on the disease itself.

This involves identifying, assessing and treating physical symptoms such as pain, breathlessness, nausea, constipation, fatigue, weakness, insomnia and loss of appetite. Symptom management is highly personalised and adjusted based on the individual’s condition, treatment plan and comfort levels.

Serious illness often brings fear, uncertainty, sadness and frustration. Palliative care teams help patients process these emotions through counselling, coping strategies and ongoing supportive conversations.

Patients are often faced with complex treatment choices. Palliative care helps them better understand their options, clarify their goals and ensure that care decisions align with what matters most to them. It also supports families, helping them navigate caregiving responsibilities, understand changing health needs and feel more prepared throughout the care journey.

These terms are often confused, but they are not the same.

Palliative care can be provided at any stage of a serious illness, including during active treatment aimed at recovery or disease control.

Hospice care, on the other hand, is a specific type of palliative care that is typically offered when curative treatment is no longer being pursued and the focus shifts entirely to comfort and quality of life.

The key difference lies in timing and treatment goals.

Palliative care supports patients through all stages of serious illness. Hospice care is generally reserved for the final phase when life expectancy is limited. Understanding this distinction is important because confusion around these terms often delays access to valuable supportive care.

Palliative care and end-of-life care are often confused, but they are not the same. Palliative care is a broader approach that can begin at any stage of a serious illness and is provided alongside ongoing treatment to improve comfort, manage symptoms and support overall well-being. 

End-of-life care, on the other hand, is a specific phase within palliative care that focuses on the final stage of life, when the priority shifts entirely to comfort, dignity and quality of remaining time rather than curative treatment. And hospice care falls under end-of-life care, but end-of-life care can exist even outside a formal hospice setting.

Palliative care can be delivered in different settings depending on the patient’s needs and condition.

• Hospitals during treatment or recovery

1. Outpatient clinics for ongoing symptom management

1. Long-term care facilities

1. Specialised palliative care centres

1. At home through home-based care services

Home-based palliative care is particularly beneficial for patients who are more comfortable in familiar surroundings or who have difficulty travelling frequently for medical visits.

The flexibility of palliative care allows support to be tailored around what is most practical and comfortable for the patient.

Palliative care is delivered through a multidisciplinary team approach.

This often includes doctors, nurses, counsellors, psychologists, social workers and rehabilitation professionals working together to address different aspects of the patient’s needs.

1. Doctors focus on symptom relief and medical planning.

1. Nurses monitor comfort and day-to-day care needs.

1. Counsellors and psychologists provide emotional support.

1. Social workers help families navigate practical and social challenges.

This collaborative model ensures that care is comprehensive, coordinated and centred around the individual.

With increasing life expectancy and rising rates of chronic illness, more people are living longer with complex health conditions. While medical advances have improved survival, they have also increased the need for supportive care that helps people manage symptoms and maintain quality of life over time.

Palliative care fills this gap. It helps reduce unnecessary suffering, improves comfort, supports better decision-making and ensures that healthcare remains focused on the person, not just the illness.

It also reduces the burden on healthcare systems by preventing avoidable hospital admissions and improving continuity of care.

Despite its importance, palliative care is still widely misunderstood.

• Palliative care does not replace treatment. It works alongside it.

1. Palliative care benefits people with many different serious illnesses and not just cancer.

1. Palliative care is not only for end-of-life situations, but it can begin early and continue for months or even years.

1. Palliative care is not only for pain management, but it addresses emotional, psychological and practical challenges as well.

These misconceptions often prevent people from accessing support when they need it most.

Modern palliative care increasingly recognises the value of supportive therapies that complement medical treatment.

Approaches such as guided relaxation, mindfulness, breathing practices, nutritional support and gentle movement can help improve overall comfort and reduce stress.

In some cases, plant-based cannabinoid formulations are considered for their potential role in managing chronic pain, sleep disturbances and anxiety through their interaction with the body’s endocannabinoid system.

These approaches should always be considered under the guidance of a healthcare expert as part of an integrated care plan.

Palliative care is not about the end of life but about improving life during illness. It ensures that care goes beyond treatment to include comfort, emotional support, symptom relief and better quality of life at every stage of the journey.

The earlier it is introduced, the greater its impact can be. Because beyond every diagnosis is a person and palliative care ensures that person is never overlooked.