Hospice and palliative care for adults

If you are suffering from a serious, incurable illness or this illness is worsening, you need good support and care. Hospice and palliative care should be seen as a common approach or attitude. They aim to provide comprehensive care and support for people with serious, incurable illnesses and are also aimed at their relatives.

You can receive basic hospice and palliative care from the time you are diagnosed with a terminal illness until you die. It can be found in all areas of health and social care, for example in GP surgeries, hospitals, retirement and nursing homes or as part of mobile services. However, if you are suffering from a serious, incurable, advanced illness and are in the last phase of your life, you may wish to make use of specialized hospice and palliative care services.

Specialized hospice and palliative care services

You need specialized hospice and palliative care services if you suffer from physical symptoms that are difficult to treat due to your advanced illness, such as

  • Pain,
  • Nausea,
  • Shortness of breath,
  • Tiredness or exhaustion,
  • psychological or social stress.

The specialized hospice and palliative care services support you in maintaining your quality of life as well as possible and being self-determined until the end of your life.
Specialized hospice and palliative care offers support with

  • physical and psychological complaints,
  • the care of patients, their relatives and trusted persons,
  • relieving the burden on relatives and trusted persons,
  • the occurrence of crises.

The following specialized hospice and palliative care services offer you and your relatives and trusted persons advice, support, care and assistance in the last phase of your life either

  • at home by mobile palliative care teams or hospice teams,
  • in palliative care units,
  • in an inpatient hospice or
  • in a day hospice.

If you make use of a specialized hospice or palliative care service, a hospice team will visit you. A hospice team consists of qualified volunteer hospice caregivers who will visit you at home or in a retirement or nursing home, for example. The team also visits hospital wards that specialize in the care of seriously and terminally ill patients, so-called palliative care wards.

Austria-wide definitions and service descriptions for specialized hospice and palliative care services can be found here:

Hospice and palliative care - Ministry of Social Affairs website

You will find further information on the following pages:

Last update: February 3, 2025