Palliative and hospice care

Palliative Care at Hopewell Hospice is a person and family-centred care provided to a person who does not have the prospect of a medical cure and who has an active, progressive, advanced disease and have made the decision along with their physicians and families to embrace the comfort and quality provided by end of life care.

We provide coordinated medical, nursing and allied services for people who are terminally ill. We cover the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual support for residents and for residents’ families and friends. This includes grief and bereavement support for the family and other carers during the life of the resident and after the resident's death.

Hopewell Hospice welcomes residents who are living with an advanced, progressive illness where active curative treatment is no longer possible, and who are not able to stay in or return to their previous home.  Referrals can be made directly to the Hospice - by you, your carer or family, your doctor, specialist or other health professionals.

We may be able to support you and your family members by visiting you in your home.  Through our outreach service, we can arrange for a nurse to visit you if you think that this might suit your needs better.

However, if you feel that our Hospice is where you would like to receive holistic end-of-life care then we encourage you and your family to discuss your goals of care and needs with a member of our Family Support Team.

Hummingbird House embraces The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) definition of palliative care appropriate for children and their families (WHO; 1998a):

• Palliative care for children is the active total care of the child’s body, mind and spirit, and also involves giving support to the family.
• It begins when illness is diagnosed and continues regardless of whether or not a child receives treatment directed at the disease.
• Health providers must evaluate and alleviate a child’s physical, psychological, and social distress.
• Effective palliative care requires a broad multidisciplinary approach that includes the family and makes use of available community resources; it can be successfully implemented even if resources are limited.
• It can be provided in tertiary care facilities, in community health centres and even in children’s homes.

Children and young people who are likely to be accepted to access the services of Hummingbird House are those with:

• Life-threatening conditions for which curative treatment has failed or lead to serious complications or
• Progressive conditions without curative treatment options or
• Irreversible but non-progressive conditions causing severe disability, leading to susceptibility to health complications

In each of these situations, an early death would not be unexpected.

We are also able to accept referrals for children who have already died and would have met the criteria. Families may wish to access practical after-death care, funeral and memorial support, or ongoing bereavement care. As with our other services, this may take place onsite at the hospice, in a family’s home, or at another community location.

From 1 January 2023 Queenslanders will have access to the Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) scheme, which gives people who are suffering and dying the option of requesting medical assistance to end their lives.

Wesley Mission Queensland (WMQ) does not provide VAD services at our homes/facilities. We know some of our customers may wish to explore this option however and we respect their right to choose. If a customer in our care wishes to access VAD, we will support them to do so.

To learn more about how WMQ supports customers wishing to explore or access the VAD scheme click here.