Comfort and palliative care
Pain management, comfort care and support for relatives, at home, in step with the treating doctor.
The essentials
- Palliative care at home aims at comfort: relieving, accompanying, and making it possible to stay at home when that is the person's choice.
- The organisation is collective: GP, mobile palliative team or hospital-at-home, nursing practice, and family.
- Anticipatory prescriptions set out in advance what to do at night and at weekends.
- If pain is not relieved or distress appears, call without waiting: an answer exists at any hour.
Who it is for
People at the end of life who wish to stay at home, and those close to them.
How we work
- We apply the prescribed pain protocol and assess pain regularly.
- Comfort care, positioning, pressure-sore prevention, mouth care.
- Close coordination with the GP, the mobile palliative-care team and home hospitalisation when needed.
- Availability for relatives: explaining what is happening is part of the care.
How a visit unfolds
What happens, in order, when we come to your home.
Listening first
The visit starts with what the person and their relatives want to say, before any procedure.
Comfort and pain
Assessment of pain and symptoms, the prescribed protocol applied, positioning adapted.
Basic care
Mouth, skin, position, cleanliness: these are the gestures that make the days bearable.
Coordination
Doctor, mobile palliative team, hospital-at-home, pharmacy: decisions are made together, never alone.
Supporting relatives
Explaining what is happening, what may happen, who to call at night: that is part of the care.
Carer and practice: where the line runs
Burnout rarely comes from the care itself: it comes from everything a relative ends up carrying because it was never shared out.
What is ours
Prescribed care
Delivered by the practice, recorded and reported to the doctor.
Technical alerts
We report changes to the doctor, and we tell you what to watch for.
Continuity
If a partner is away, a locum delivers the planned visits.
What is yours
Presence
What nobody can delegate: being there, talking, knowing the habits.
Daily life
Meals, shopping, appointments: we can point you to the existing support services.
Your limits
Saying them early allows a reorganisation; hiding them to the end removes the choice.
What helps prepare the visit
Nothing is compulsory: it simply saves time during the visit.
- Current prescriptions, including “as needed” treatments.
- Contact details for the lead doctor and the team following the situation.
- A calm, accessible space around the bed.
- The person's expressed wishes, if they have been written down.
What helps at home
Between visits, these simple habits prevent most urgent calls.
- Keep the anticipatory prescriptions and the useful numbers displayed near the bed, visible to everyone.
- Clear space around the bed allows care without moving the person unnecessarily.
- Accept relief shifts: relatives who sleep last far longer than those who keep watch alone.
- Tell us what matters to the person — waking time, music, presence: that is part of the care.
When to call us between visits
In a life-threatening emergency, call 15 (or 112) before calling the practice.
- Pain not relieved by the planned treatment.
- Breathing difficulty, agitation, settling anxiety.
- An essential treatment that cannot be taken.
- Exhaustion of relatives: that is a reason to call in itself.
How this care is framed
- Comfort care is provided on prescription, with the team following the person.
- Sedation, analgesic adjustment and limitation decisions are the doctor's.
- We report every change: this framework exists so that nobody decides alone.
The words used here
- Home hospitalisation (HAD)
- A structure delivering hospital-level care at the patient's home, with its own medical coordination.
- Handover notes
- The written record of a visit: what was done, what was observed, what must be watched. The shared memory of the care episode.
- Prescription
- A doctor's written order stating the procedure, frequency and duration. Without it, nursing care cannot be delivered or reimbursed, apart from procedures allowed in direct access.
- Care protocol
- A written, dated description of how a specific patient's care must be delivered: products, supplies, frequency, alert criteria.
Common questions about this care
Is it possible to stay at home to the end?
How is pain assessed?
Do you support relatives too?
Are you reachable between visits?
How do you work with the team already involved?
What about the relatives?
Official sources
What we state about the framework of care comes from these public texts, consulted on the date shown.
Related care
These forms of care often go together.
Where we provide this care
Towns in our sector where this care is most frequent.
This care is provided on medical prescription. To find out whether we can visit you, call 04 04 38 04 38.