Ongoing challenges exist in developing sustainable service models to meet the increasing palliative care needs of patients at home, especially in regional and rural communities. The Palliative Care Advice Service (PCAS) was established in 2020 to provide free and accessible state-wide telephone-based specialist palliative care support and advice for healthcare professionals and the general public in Victoria. Nurse telephone operators captured outcome measures relating to caller demographics, disease type, reason for call, and perceived utility of service. This study is a retrospective analysis of electronic client records between 26 May, 2020 and 24 Oct, 2022, describing the first 1000 calls made to PCAS.

Most calls received were from members of the public (62%) and related to malignant conditions (41%). Regional/rural clients comprised 45% of all calls to the service, of which half (50%) were health professionals seeking advice on symptom management and medication. One third (29.3%) of all calls from health professionals were escalated to a palliative care medical consultant. PCAS prevented calls to emergency services in 10% of cases, and 82% of callers reported their issue was “Very Much” or “Completely” addressed.

PCAS was shown to be frequently used by the public and healthcare professionals supporting patients with advanced, life-limiting illnesses. The service provided a high impact, low-cost solution without requiring complex technology, delivering a rapid connection for consumers with specialist palliative care expertise that might otherwise be unavailable, particularly in regional areas.