Meeting with the Victorian Minister for Health and the Victorian Palliative Care Alliance

It was a productive meeting with the Minister interested to learn more and to continue the conversation about the VPCA’s three key priorities:   

• Make palliative care everyone’s business- We need to educate health professionals in their understanding of palliative care, communication and referral pathways.  

• Fully fund palliative care ensuring all can access it when and where they need it.  

• Continued support for community education so that all Victorians, including carers, can make informed choices. The aim is to empower patients and their carers to navigate the complex medical, emotional and ethical challenges of end-of-life care with greater understanding and confidence.  

Carers of people with a terminal illness report low levels of personal wellbeing, high rates of psychological distress, social isolation and physical health, compared to the Australian population who are not in care roles1.  

As an alliance partner, Carers Victoria aims to ensure carers are recognized as critical partners in the care team for people at end of life.  A key part of our advocacy for this group of carers is making sure they are provided with comprehensive emotional and practical support to ensure they have the necessary skills for end-of-life care.  It is critical that this support is an integrated part of the palliative care program. 

We will continue to raise these issues as a member of the VPCA as well as through our own advocacy to State and Federal members of parliament. 

Carers Victoria is also engaged in other projects to improve palliative care. 

Compassionate States Project 

The Compassionate States Program: Compassionate South Australia and Compassionate Victoria is a 3-year project that began in July 2025, funded by the Wicking Trust National Grant.  

The project partners are Palliative Care Victoria (PCV), Palliative Care South Australia (PCSA), Flinders University and Carers Victoria, and the aim of the project is to run a free program for individuals, organisations and councils that provides practical supports around serious illness, dying, death, grief and caregiving.  

Flinders University has been engaged to create learning modules and a theory of change for the project, and to evaluate the project’s impact.  

Carers Victoria sits on the project steering group and will support reaching carers for the program and offer insights and advice relevant to carers in palliative settings. 

Small Grants 

In 2023 we provided a Connecting Carers in their Community small grant to Anam Cara house Colac, a community owned hospice established to provide respite, palliative care and end of life care for the people of Southwest Victoria.