Budget moves welcomed for end-of-life care support in Australia

Budget moves welcomed for end-of-life care support in Australia

13 May 2026

The organisation says the changes are a positive step, but more detail is still needed to make sure the system works well for patients, families, carers and service providers.

The group especially supports changes to the aged care Support at Home End-of-Life Pathway. Under the previous system, people who lived longer than 16 weeks often dropped back to a standard package even if they still needed high levels of care. The new update will help prevent this gap in support.

Interim CEO Simon Waring said the change strengthens confidence in the system and reflects the reality that end of life does not follow a fixed timeline.

National Policy Director Josh Fear said the update fixes an important design problem and should give providers more certainty to deliver care without funding suddenly reducing.

He also said further improvements are still needed, including more flexible entry rules for people with uncertain illness trajectories and faster access to essential end-of-life supports.

Palliative Care Australia also welcomed a Budget decision to reclassify personal care under the Support at Home Program as a clinical service from October. This means people will no longer face out-of-pocket costs for help with daily tasks such as showering, dressing, continence care, medication support, and mobility assistance at home.

Mr Fear said this would make a real difference for people living with life-limiting illness.

NDIS and disability support changes

The organisation also noted the significance of changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) for people under 65 with life-limiting illness. It says future support systems must be better coordinated so people can get practical care when they need it.

Mr Fear said there is concern that without proper planning, more patients could end up staying in hospital longer because suitable community support is not available.

Palliative Care Australia says it is ready to work with government on new support systems, including through a planned Technical Advisory Group.

Other Budget updates

The organisation also acknowledged the upcoming end of two key initiatives on 30 June: the Commonwealth Palliative Care in Aged Care measure and the Palliative Care Services Navigation Pilot (Palliative Care Connect in South Australia).

It also welcomed extra funding for dementia care, including expanded hospital-to-aged-care dementia support and new specialist dementia care units.

Budget moves welcomed for end-of-life care support in Australia
 
 

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