Frequently Asked Questions

Palliative care is a healthcare specialty that helps people live their life as fully and as comfortably as possible when living with a progressive serious illness such as late stage cancer, organ failure, dementia, Alzheimers, and Motor Neurone Disease. Palliative care identifies and treats symptoms which may be physical, emotional, spiritual or social.

You may ask to be referred for palliative care support upon being diagnosed with the illness or you may choose to be referred once your illness progresses to a certain stage. Often our patients have an on-off rotation through palliative care as they go through various stages of their illness as they may have periods of wellness and illness. We will discuss the palliative care needs of our patients regularly with them as they journey through their illness.

No. The aim of palliative care is to improve your quality of life despite the illness by helping to manage your symptoms such as pain, anxiety, insomnia or breathlessness. Sometimes, you may be distressed emotional or spiritually. The palliative care team will work with the you and your family to treat these symptoms and support you emotionally so that you can continue to live as normal a life as possible.

Sometimes, you may need to better understand your condition and choices for treatment and care. You may want support to help you cope with medical treatments and their side effects. We have found that for most patients and their family, their ultimate goal is to be able to carry on with everyday life, despite the illness. To do this, you will want to feel well, feel supported and have more control over your care.

No, we do not provide nursing help. If you are unable to care for yourself, it is important that you have someone to provide care. Our team will be able to teach your caregiver how to care for you. This can include some basic nursing care skills such as how to manage your personal hygiene, dispensing of medication, wound care, and how to detect signs of distress which may require a call to our palliative care team.

No, we do not as we do not run an in-patient service.

Once the patient is registered with us, we will aim to contact you or your caregiver within 2 working days to discuss your needs, and potentially arrange for a nurse to visit and assess you. The nurse will
work with you and your caregiver to decide what you will need to be supported at home, including appropriate medical equipment, which can be loaned if available at no charge. During the 1st assessment, the nurse will work with you to draft your care plan.

If you are still in hospital, and a discharge is imminent, then please contact us to inform us, so that an appointment can be made for our nurse to visit when you return home.

To be eligible for our service, you must have an illness such as late stage cancer, heart failure, lung condition eg COPD, kidney failure, AIDs and certain neurological conditions such as dementia, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Motor Neurone Disease (MND). support.

We need a referral from your attending doctor which you will find the form on our website HERE.

We are only able to provide our home visits to patients living within our area of coverage in the Klang Valley. Please therefore contact us to check if we are able to send our team into your area. If you live outside our coverage area, we offer an outpatient consultation service at our centre in Cheras.

It is important that we understand your condition and what treatment or investigations you have recently undergone so that we can better manage your symptoms.

A nurse will assess the type and level of pain and in consultation with our doctor, appropriate medication will be prescribed. Sometimes opioids such as morphine may be prescribed to manage physical pain. If you have any concerns of the effects of these opioids please discuss this with the attending nurse. The nurse will also assess whether you can take the medication orally or an alternative method of administering the medication may have to be used, such as subcutaneous injections. If the patient is bed bound, the nurse can advise on proper positioning of the patient to reduce the risk of bed sores which is also a source of pain.

Sometimes, a patient may experience psychological pain, which may be addressed with appropriate counselling. Counselling can be offered by the attending nurse or doctor.

Yes, we offer a 24 hour call service for emergencies. An emergency contact number will be given to the patient and family during the 1^st visit by the nurse. We ask that this number be readily accessible to key people caring for the patient so that you do not panic if an emergency arises. Please note that we will only respond to emergency calls to patients registered with us.

Yes we do. Our nurse will work with the patient and caregiver on what equipment is required. Medical equipment such as a hospital bed, ripple mattress, bedside commode, nebulizer, wheelchair, oxygen tank and oxygen concentrator is available to support the patient’s needs at no charge, subject to availability.

Our nurses and doctors are assigned patients according to their geographical coverage. The quality of care we provide is the same whichever nurse or doctor is attending to your loved one. If there is a language problem for more complex conversations, we will try and arrange a translator.

No, we do not provide financial aid. If you are in need of financial support, we suggest other organisations that might help.

Yes, we also care for children. Our team is trained to assess how the illness affects the child. At the same time, we will also assess how this impacts the rest of the family and work with them to support them while caring for the ill child.

As palliative care providers, we are mindful that the people close to our patient are often also affected by the challenges of their loved one’s illness. While the focus of care is on the patient, we recognize that the patient’s family play an important part in the care process. We are therefore there to help you understand your loved one’s journey with the illness, counselling support if required, and practical support in terms of training in caregiving skills to alleviate distress.

No. We only have 1 centre in Cheras serving patients living in the Klang Valley. If you need palliative care in another state or district outside the Klang Valley, you can check out https://www.malaysianhospicecouncil.com/ to find a hospice in your location. Alternatively, you may want to check with a KKM hospital if they offer palliative care.

Hospis Malaysia aims to provide the best possible quality of care for our patients and families. Your feedback is important to us to enable us to continuously improve. If you have a complaint or a question about our service, please talk to any of our team members, or call us at our office on 03-91333936, and ask to speak to our Patient Services Manager. You may also send us an email at patientcare@hospismalaysia.org

Yes, all cash donations are tax deductible. To enable us to issue the tax exempt receipt, we will require your full name (as per IC), your IC or passport number, and mailing address. Please also leave us your email address and/or contact number should we need to contact you for further clarification

Yes we do. We are constantly looking to replenish our medication and medical supplies, and certain medical equipment to support our patients’ needs. We can therefore accept cash donations with specific instructions for its utilization and will be happy to provide a copy of the receipt when the item(s) is purchased. Alternatively, we can suggest certain suppliers if you prefer to purchase the item(s) yourself.

Please contact us at pr@hospismalaysia.org to get an update of list of items required

Yes we are always in need of certain medical equipment or supplies, if they are in good condition. We request that you take a photo of the items you would like to donate and email it to pr@hospismalaysia.org. Please also include your contact details so we can get in touch with you. As we are a charitable organization, we ask that you bear the cost of transportation charges. We would be happy to provide you with the contact for of several transporters.

Please note, we cannot however accept unused medication.

Yes we do. Our volunteers can support us in 2 different areas of work:

1. Non-patient related activities – volunteers will be involved in administrative duties in our Finance Dept, Communications & Fund-Raising Dept. and Pharmacy. All administrative functions are conducted during office hours Monday-Friday, 8.00am to 5.00pm.
2. Patient-related activities – volunteers who would like to be involved in patient care are required to undergo extensive training. As such we ask that only those who are able to commit to at least 6 months of volunteering time be assigned to this area of work.

If you have interest to volunteer with us, please contact us at pr@hospismalaysia.org