When should I call 000 for someone receiving palliative care?
Call 000 when there is a life-threatening emergency or immediate danger.
Call 000 when there is a life-threatening emergency or immediate danger. Palliative care does not remove the option of emergency help. It means emergency decisions should be guided by the person's condition, wishes and care plan where possible.
If the person is expected to die at home and the change looks like the expected dying process, you may need to call the palliative care team rather than 000. If you are unsure and the person may be in immediate danger, call 000.
General information: This page gives general information for people in Australia. It cannot tell you exactly what is happening in one person's situation. If you have concerns about a symptom, medicine, treatment decision or change in someone's condition, contact their doctor, palliative care team, nurse or other treating health professional.
When to get help now
Call 000 if the person:
- is not breathing
- cannot be woken
- is choking
- has severe uncontrolled bleeding
- has a serious injury after a fall
- may have had an overdose
- has sudden severe breathing distress and you cannot get urgent palliative advice
- is in a situation where they or someone else is unsafe
Tell the operator that the person is receiving palliative care. This helps ambulance clinicians understand the situation.
Have care documents ready
If available, have these documents ready:
- advance care directive or advance care plan
- resuscitation plan
- goals of care plan
- ambulance care plan or authorised care plan
- medicine chart
- palliative care contact numbers
These documents can help paramedics understand what treatments the person would or would not want. Keep them somewhere easy to find.
When to call palliative care instead
Call the palliative care team or after-hours number if the person has expected symptoms that are covered by the plan, such as increasing sleepiness, reduced eating and drinking, irregular breathing near death, pain, breathlessness, nausea or agitation that the plan tells you how to manage.
Call earlier if the symptom is not settling, the plan is unclear, or you are worried. The team may advise a medicine change, a nurse visit, a GP review, hospital care, or calling 000.
Expected death at home is different
When a person is expected to die at home, the plan should say who to call when death occurs. Healthdirect advises that for an expected home death, families usually call the person's doctor or palliative care team. There is no legal requirement to contact ambulance or police straight away for an expected death at home.
This only applies when death is expected and a plan is in place. If the death is unexpected, call 000.
What if the person does not want hospital?
Some people receiving palliative care do not want cardiopulmonary resuscitation, intensive care or transfer to hospital. Others do want emergency treatment for reversible problems. Both situations are possible.
The safest approach is to have the person's wishes documented before a crisis. In an emergency, tell paramedics what you know and show the documents. Do not hide serious symptoms because you are worried an ambulance call means every treatment will be forced. Paramedics need clear information to respond properly.
If you are alone and frightened
If you cannot decide, call the palliative care after-hours number if the person is stable enough to wait on the phone. Call 000 if there is immediate danger or you cannot keep the person safe.
You may also want to read
- Should I call an ambulance if someone is expected to die at home?
- When should I seek urgent medical advice?
- What do I do if something frightening happens at 2 am?
- Does morphine make someone die sooner?