stage: 6

Palliative care and dementia — when it starts, what it involves, and how to access it

Palliative care for dementia patients is an approach to care that focuses on comfort, dignity, and quality of life rather than on treating or curing the underlying disease. It becomes the appropriate framework from the point when dementia has progressed to the stage where life-prolonging interventions are no longer in the person's best interests. In practice it means managing pain and physical symptoms effectively, ensuring the person is comfortable, maintaining their dignity in personal care, supporting emotional and psychological wellbeing, and providing practical and emotional support to family. Palliative care for dementia is not the same as end-of-life care, which refers specifically to the final weeks and days. It can and should be introduced earlier, when the person reaches the advanced stages, to allow decisions to be made calmly rather than under crisis pressure. A GP or specialist nurse can initiate a palliative care referral.