In 2024–25, of the 1.6 million palliative care-related prescriptions dispensed (Figure MED 2):
- 8 in 10 (80%) were for pain relief – equating to 1.2 million prescriptions or 3.1 prescriptions per person. The next most common medication groups were gastrointestinal symptoms and neurological symptoms (8.9% and 9.0% respectively), followed by psychological symptoms (1.5%) and respiratory symptoms (1.0%).
- General practitioners (GPs) prescribed the majority (89%) of palliative care-related prescriptions, while palliative medicine specialists prescribed 1.3% of medications. The remainder (10%) were prescribed by other clinicians (including medical specialists from other disciplines and nurse practitioners).
- GPs were more likely than palliative medicine specialists to prescribe medications for pain relief (82% compared with 70%, respectively). Palliative medicine specialists were more likely than GPs to prescribe medications for other symptoms – almost twice as likely to prescribe medications for gastrointestinal symptoms (14% compared to 8.5%) and over 4 times as likely for psychological symptoms (6.0% compared to 1.3%).
For further details on these prescriptions, see Table MED 1 in Data source.
Pain relief medications
Pain management is an integral component of quality palliative care. Pain-relieving medications are often used in conjunction with other strategies. It can be due to a life-limiting illness, its treatment, debility or comorbid illnesses.
For further information, see Therapeutic Guidelines: Palliative Care.
In 2024–25, of the 1.2 million pain relief prescriptions, opioids and other analgesics and antipyretics were the two common types (38% and 44%, respectively), followed by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic products (19%; Figure MED 2).
Most pain relief prescriptions were initial scripts (66% of the 1.2 million prescriptions), with opioid prescriptions more likely to be initial scripts (84%) than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic (54%) and other analgesics and antipyretics (57%) products (Table 6 in Data tables for Palliative care-related medications).
Note that some pain relief medicines can be bought 'over the counter', which means that people do not need a prescription from the doctor to access them. These medications are not included in this report.
For further details on the coverage and scope of PBS and RPBS, see Data source.
