The Griffith area palliative care service: a pilot project.

In September 2000 the Commonwealth released, as part of its National Palliative Care Strategy under the Australian Health Care Agreements, a National Framework for Palliative Care Service Development. The new National Framework stressed an important set of values to guide models of palliative care delivery. It notes that the challenge is to secure the place of palliative care as an integral part of health care across Australia, routinely available within local communities to those people who need it. Care and support for people who are dying and their families need to be built not only into health care services, but also into the fabric of communities and their support networks. While few would disagree with this, little is known about how best to achieve it in rural Australia. The Griffith Area Palliative Care Service (GAPS) is a two-year pilot project delivering a palliative care service through a truly integrated approach to care for patients, their carers and families within the Griffith Local Government Area and Carrathool Shire areas. This paper describes how GAPS is successfully meeting the challenges of service provision to rural and remote areas.