Background: General practitioners have always been involved in providing palliative care. As Australia's population ages, the number of patients living with cancer and end stage chronic disease will increase.
Objective: This article looks at existing barriers to, and community expectations of, GP involvement in the provision of palliative care. It presents the CareSearch project as one initiative aimed at building GPs' awareness and skills in palliative care.
Discussion: Palliative care is traditionally viewed as being the intense care of a patient who is close to death. In recent years, the scope of palliative care has expanded to include patients who may live for many years with end stage organ failure or cancer. Care of these patients in the community inevitably involves input from the GP. Barriers to GPs' participation in palliative care include knowledge barriers and structural factors. Some GPs feel unprepared to deal with what they see as the complex clinical and psychosocial aspects of palliative care. A number of initiatives have been developed to build the awareness and skills of GPs in palliative care. The GP section of the CareSearch website has been specifically developed to provide knowledge, skills and practical advice for GPs who provide palliative care in the community.