Supportive & Palliative Care

Having any serious illness can be overwhelming for both patients and their families. Supportive and palliative care looks at the impact of the illness on the patient and their loved ones, and addresses a broad range of issues by integrating their goals, values, preferences and specific needs into their care. Using a holistic approach, the aim is to optimise quality of life to allow them to live as well as they can, for as long as they can.

The Division of Supportive and Palliative Care in NCCS is dedicated to providing quality, holistic care to all our patients and their families. Working in clinical care teams consisting of doctors, nurses, medical social workers, clinical psychologists, and other allied health professionals, we provide an additional layer of specialised support at any stage of illness journey. We provide both inpatient consult and specialist outpatient clinic services. In addition, we work closely with community partners to ensure the smooth transition of care from hospital to the community.

How we can help

• Prevention and management of pain and other symptoms (e.g. shortness of breath, loss of appetite, nausea or vomiting, etc.) related to serious illness and its treatments 
• Patient and family/caregiver education 
• Emotional, psychological, and spiritual support 
• Practical and social support 
• Care and discharge planning 
• End-of-life and bereavement care

Supportive and palliative care is an essential part of comprehensive cancer care. Regardless of age, stage of cancer or treatment regime, supportive and palliative care provides an additional layer of support to plan care and cope better throughout the cancer journey.

These videos explain how supportive care services work alongside medical treatments to improve quality of life for cancer patients and their loved ones.