Building relationships through multi-disciplinary education in the North West Tasmania Rural Palliative Care Project

This paper reports a multi-disciplinary educational intervention developed to improve palliative care delivery in a rural and remote area. The North West Rural Palliative Care Project commenced in 2004 on the North West Coast of Tasmania as a result of an innovative three-way partnership between the North West Tasmania Division of General Practice, Palliative Care Service North West and the University of Tasmania’s Rural Clinical School. The program was funded by the National Palliative Care Strategy under the Rural Palliative Care Program. As occurs in many rural communities, the majority of palliative care delivery in this region is by GPs based in small, dispersed towns. A specialist palliative care service, including a medical specialist, services the region. However, while this assistance is available it is not fully utilised by GPs because of issues relating to distance and role delineation, among others.