Scottish Palliative Care Guidelines

The Scottish Palliative Care Strategy defines care around dying as:  

Holistic care of a person of any age who is dying and in the last hours, days or few weeks of their life, that focuses on comfort and includes people close to them who are supported into bereavement. Palliative Care - Publications

Internationally, the WHO defines palliative care as an approach that improves the quality of life of patients – adults and children – and their families who are facing problems associated with life-threatening illness. It prevents and relieves suffering through the early identification, impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, whether physical, psychosocial, or spiritual. Palliative care - World Health Organization (WHO)

The Scottish Palliative Care Guideline offers guidance for adults. If you require guidance for a child please access the Association for Paediatric Palliative Medicine Formulary: APPM Master Formulary