Background: While traditional palliative services have cared for people dying of a malignancy, there has been a developing focus on the end-of-life needs of people dying from chronic illness. Models of care to support quality-of-life differ, but all aim to enhance an individual’s quality-of-life. Telehealth has proven beneficial in consultations with this client group and has come into its own consequential to the COVID pandemic. 

Aim: To examine the impact of telehealth services on quality-of-life of those with end-stage chronic illness.

Method: All those referred for palliative care with a diagnosis of chronic illness, were offered telehealth support via a program called Palcare Go, consisting of routine and urgent video calls with a palliative care specialist focusing on symptom management and end-of-life planning. A quality-of-life questionnaire (Rand 36-item Health Survey 1.0) was administered when commencing the program and repeated three and six months later.

Results: 31 people were enrolled during the trial period. Twenty returned sets of questionnaires indicated health being fair or poor for all when completing the initial questionnaire, and most reported everyday activities were very limited by their health status. Subsequent questionaries reported few improvements. But improvements in social functioning scores were seen across questionnaires, in terms of physical and emotional health interfering with social activities. Perceived changes in health over the time of the questionnaires was minimal. Favourable qualitative responses at the end of the survey indicated satisfaction with the support received, as well as the ability to control engagement with their own health issues.

Discussion & implications for practice: While those who are dying with chronic illness report few health improvements from using the program, improvements in social functioning were seen.  Telehealth seems a supportive option, particularly in empowering individuals to maintain control over their own healthcare, including interventions.