Palliative Care

What is Palliative Care?

Once people hear the words “palliative care”, it is a common misconception that it means they will shortly be reaching the end of their life. However, this is not the case, it may be offered to you at any stage following your kidney cancer diagnosis, as it is a speciality that focuses on supporting people with their symptoms of serious illness and the side effects of treatment. One of palliative care’s aims is to help maintain and possibly improve your quality of life following your diagnosis.

Your palliative care team can support you with many aspects of your care, not just your physical symptoms or side effects. They can support you with your emotional, social, and spiritual needs as well as your family and loved ones.

Don’t be alarmed if you are referred early to palliative care, as they can help you and your family along all steps of diagnosis and treatment.

In some cases, if it is something you might want to discuss, the team can help you plan in advance what you may want your end-of-life care and experience to look like.

Where Can I Receive Palliative Care?

Palliative care can be offered in your own home, in a hospice (residential or day care) or in hospital. If you decide to stay at home your GP or oncologist can arrange for community palliative care nurses, such as Macmillan or Marie Curie nurses, to provide care at home. The social services department may need to be contacted to provide a range of social care services and equipment to help you remain at home.

Specialist palliative care teams, such as the Macmillan support team, symptom control team, or pain management team, provide palliative care in hospitals or hospices. These teams include doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, dieticians, social workers and chaplains, or the service can be provided by a specialist nurse.

Palliative care teams help to manage your symptoms and enhance your feeling of wellbeing. There are a number of support services available to patients who are living with incurable cancer that can help to improve quality of life. For example, Marie Curie offer a range of complementary therapies that patients can access at their hospices for a few hours, or by attending a specific clinic. These therapies include acupuncture, aromatherapy, massage, reflexology, and shiatsu, which help patients relax and improve their feeling of wellbeing.