In this public lecture, Professor Jennifer Tieman discusses how our changing world – ageing population, changing family structures, diversity across populations, industrial changes, information technology developments, pharmaceutical developments, voluntary assisted dying legislation changes – impacts when and how we die.

Professor Tieman says death and dying is becoming removed from the community setting and more commonly in health facilities and funeral homes.

Palliative care hospitalisation is growing faster than other types of hospitalisation and around half is for people over 75 years. Specialist palliative care services cannot meet the demand alone.

“When care is not timely, responsive and appropriate, there is a human cost,” Professor Tieman said.

Professor Tieman says research into death and dying can help us to:

• Understand community attitudes
• Recognise and validate individuals’ needs, responses, and wishes
• Investigate equity in access, use, and outcomes
• Enable access to evidence and guidance for care providers
• Develop new tools, resources and functionality for care
• Evaluate effectiveness of new models, approaches, tools.

Flinders has a long association with palliative care, and a proud research history in this field, which is a key area of expertise for the Caring Futures Institute.