‘Revolutionising’ end of life care

A new app and website which delivers international news on hospice, palliative and end of life care will be launched today by Palliative Care Australia (PCA) and international partners.

Dr Yvonne Luxford, PCA chief executive, claims the ‘ehospice’ app is set to “revolutionise” how we access information about palliative and end of life care.

“The website and app bring together the expertise and experience of the global hospice and palliative care community for the first time in one place,” she says.

Users of ehospice will have access – via the internet, iPads and mobile phone devices – to current news, best practice, inspirational stories, jobs, events and photo galleries from around the world. It will also be a key tool to support advocacy at the national, regional and global level.

David Praill, chair of the World Palliative Care Alliance, says: “ehospice is about supporting the development of the best possible care by transferring knowledge between clinicians, policy makers, hospice leaders and supporters – encouraging exploration and learning and building global partnerships.”

ehospice will be split into different country/regional editions, with PCA managing the Australian edition. Other editions will be managed in Africa, Canada, India, the UK and Kenya, with more countries planning to adopt the website and app throughout the year.

Dr Luxford hopes the website and app – which includes a directory of hospice and palliative care services worldwide – will be a platform where knowledge in the sector can be shared.

She encourages the Australian palliative care sector to share its innovations with the rest of the world via ehospice.

“There have been some excellent advances in palliative care over the past 50 years, but we still have a long way to go to reach our goal of quality care at the end of life for all,” she says.

‘We hope that having one platform where we can share knowledge and learn from each other will go some way to improving end of life care here in Australia and around the world.”

To access the ehospice website visit, www.ehospice.com. iPad and iPhone users can visit the App Store to download the free app.