The Palliative Care Programme is for people who have a serious life limiting condition and are
entering the last six months of their life. A patient’s General Practitioner/Nurse Practitioner enrolls
the patient in this programme, in good faith, to support the patient with funding for their
appointments with their GP/NP or nurse. This is to ensure patients in this position have access to
their General Practice as they need it.

The goal of this Palliative Care programme is to improve the quality of life for patients and their
families.

Criteria
Essential criteria for access to Palliative Care funding;
• The patient is enrolled with Health Hawke’s Bay
• The patient has a life limiting condition
• The life limiting condition is actively progressive
• There is likely prognosis of six months or less, due to the life limiting condition
AND any two of the following
• An increase in the number of GP visits/attendances beyond monthly
• Two or more hospital admissions for the life limiting condition in the past 6 months
• Persistent troublesome symptoms due to the life limiting condition despite optimal
treatment intervention
• Patient asks for withdrawal of treatment such as haemodialysis, blood transfusions,
chemotherapy

Medical conditions can be:
• Cancer
• Degenerative Brain Disease
• Heart Disease
• Renal Failure
• Respiratory Disease
• Plus any other terminal condition (with less than 6 months prognosis)

What they are entitled to:
There are criteria for patient’s being enrolled and accessing this programme funding. To ensure HHB
have transparency, criteria is applied to all patients accessing the programme and all patients are
required to be reviewed every six months. The funding covers consultation costs to see the general
practitioner/NP and/or nurse when the consultation and prescription is related to your life limiting
condition.

What is not Funded:
Normal costs of seeing the GP/NP or nurse for consultations that are not related to the life limiting
illness, are not covered by this programme.

Deferment from the Programme:
In some cases, a patient recovers sufficiently, and if after a review of the/their illness it is confirmed
that they no longer need to be on this programme, they will be taken off. However, they can be put
back on the programme later if needed. Contact HHB for this to occur.

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact the Health Programmes Team at Health
Hawkes Bay