Palliative care outcomes
This chapter provides information related to characteristics and outcomes for people receiving palliative care from the services participating in Australian Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration (PCOC) program over the period 2014 to 2024.
Note, as participation in PCOC is voluntary, not all services participate in PCOC. The data presented in this chapter therefore describe a subset of all palliative care delivered in Australia. Further information on PCOC is provided in Data source.
The information in this chapter was last updated in October 2025.
Key points
In 2024, 202 services participated in the PCOC program, delivering palliative care services to 72,400 patients.
Of the 95,500 palliative care episodes recorded in PCOC:
- almost 3 in 4 (75%) ended within 30 days, with most ending within 2 weeks (60%)
- over 9 in 10 (92%) commenced within 2 days after patients were ready for palliative care.
Of the 211,000 palliative care phases (reflecting the type of care required by patients) recorded in PCOC:
- almost 9 in 10 (86%) unstable palliative care phases were resolved within 3 days
- nearly 9 in 10 patients maintained an absent/mild pain throughout the phase (89% for pain severity, 88% for distress from pain), and around 3 in 5 improved from moderate/severe to absent/mild pain by phase end (61% for pain severity, 58% for distress from pain).