The Australian Government subsidises the cost of pharmaceutical products listed in the PBS Palliative Care Schedule to improve access to essential and affordable medications for people with life-limiting conditions. This specialised schedule complements the General PBS and RBPS Schedules by offering medications tailored to the unique needs of palliative care patients.
In 2024–25:
- the Australian Government spent $40.4 million on palliative care-related prescriptions from PBS Palliative Care Schedule, equivalent to an average of $83 per patient
- pain relief prescriptions made up 86% ($34.5 million) of total expenditure on palliative care-related prescriptions, followed by prescriptions for gastrointestinal symptoms (8.8%, $3.6 million) and prescriptions for neurological symptoms (3.9%, $1.6 million).
Figure EXP 4 also highlights variations across the states and territories in expenditure and expenditure per patient for palliative care-related prescriptions.
Trends
Between 2016–17 and 2024–25, expenditure on palliative care-related prescriptions has increased overall at an average annual rate of 11%. Since 2019–20 expenditure has increased by an average annual rate of 9.4% (from $25.7 million to $40.4 million, in real terms). This is largely driven by a steep increase of 44% between 2020–21 and 2021–22 (from $27.4 million to $39.3 million, in real terms).
Consistent with these patterns, expenditure per patient (in real terms) increased by an average annual rate of 12% (from $47 to $83 per patient, in real terms) since 2019–20. This was again driven largely by a steep increase of 63% between 2020–21 and 2021–22 (from $53 to $87 per patient, in real terms).
For further details on palliative care-related medications from PBS Palliative Care Schedule and people receiving them, see Palliative care-related medications chapter.
