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Palliative Care aims to deliver holistic, personalised, team-based healthcare with excellent communication. Don’t we all want that? Leeroy William

26/10/2026

21/10/2026

In my medical training, I learned to say “multisystem organ failure” and “poor prognosis.” I could tell a family that someone was “declining” without saying that he was dying. The language was medically accurate. Whether the family understood what it meant was another matter.

I worried that plain language would be too blunt, that saying “dying” would cause pain I could soften with other words. But my discomfort had consequences. I was asking people to make decisions without helping them understand what was happening to someone they loved.

I had to unlearn the habit of hiding behind my words. Families deserved to know what treatment could still accomplish, and when it could no longer help. They needed room to absorb that news and ask questions.

In “The Hidden Harms of CPR,” I wrote about learning that honest, clear communication is itself a form of compassion. It demands the same care and precision as any other part of medicine.

17/10/2026

Have you read the full report?

https://pcvpallcarevic.blob.core.windows.net/assets/news_htmlcontent/Summary%20Report-State%20of%20Palliative%20Care%20in%20Victoria.pdf

11/10/2026

10/10/2026

Today is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2026. 🌍
This year, we are talking about something that touches every family, every community, and every corner of the world: pain management.
Pain relief is not optional. It is not a luxury. It is the most basic promise of care, and for too many people around the world, that promise is still broken.
Over 20 million people die every year in unnecessary pain. Not because we lack the medicines. Not because we lack the knowledge. But because systems, policies, and stigma continue to stand between patients and the relief they deserve.
On this day, we stand together: patients, families, caregivers, health workers, advocates, and policymakers to say: enough.
Join us. Share your story. Raise your voice. And help us build a world where no one dies in preventable pain.

10/10/2026

10/10/2026

Did you know that over 5.5 billion people live in countries with little or no access to controlled medicines for pain management?
Morphine, one of the most effective tools for relieving pain in palliative care, is affordable, widely manufactured, and on the WHO Essential Medicines List. Yet for most of the world, it remains out of reach.
This is not a supply problem. It is a policy problem.
On , we are calling on governments to act to review the policies that stand between patients and pain relief, and to make palliative care a real part of every national health system.

07/10/2026

4 days to go.
The Global Atlas of Palliative Care was first published in 2014 and revised in 2020. It has become a key reference for governments, health workers and advocates working to make palliative care available to everyone who needs it.
A lot has happened since the last edition.
On Friday 9 October, we launch the third edition at the 50th Montréal International Palliative Care Congress.
Before then, tell us in the comments: how much of the world's need for palliative care do you think is being met today? We'll share the answer on launch day.

05/10/2026

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