Senate Pushes for More Flexible End-of-Life Care at Home
15 Jul 2026
The recommendation has been welcomed by Ageing Australia and Palliative Care Australia (PCA), which believe home-based end-of-life care should be guided by a person's health needs instead of fixed funding periods or predicted life expectancy.
The Senate Community Affairs References Committee has recommended removing the current funding and time limits within the Support at Home End-of-Life Pathway. The organisations say the existing system can prevent some people from receiving the care they need simply because it is difficult to predict how long they will live.
Ageing Australia said families need a care model that can adjust as a person's condition changes. It believes older people who choose to spend their final months at home should have access to support that responds to their individual circumstances rather than strict eligibility rules.
The organisation also noted that better access to home-based care could reduce avoidable hospital admissions and make it easier for families to manage end-of-life care.
Palliative Care Australia said the current pathway creates challenges for people living with conditions such as dementia, frailty and progressive neurological diseases, where estimating life expectancy is often unreliable.
Although the Australian Government has announced that people who outlive the current 12-week funding period will be eligible for a second round of funding from early 2027, the sector says this only addresses part of the issue.
PCA believes eligibility should be based on unmet palliative care needs rather than requiring clinicians to estimate how much time a person has left to live.
The organisation is preparing a new clinically guided, needs-based model for home end-of-life care, which will be included in its submission to the Senate inquiry into the broader Support at Home Program before the 31 July deadline.
Senate Pushes for More Flexible End-of-Life Care at Home
Source: Ageing Australia & Palliative Care Australia