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Palliative and End-Of-Life Care: For the Community

Support, Care, and Connection When It Matters Most

Sydney North Health Network (SNHN) participates in the Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care program, which helps more people receive care in the comfort of their own home, where many prefer to be. Through this program, SNHN works with local palliative care services, GPs, aged care homes, and community members to make support easier to find, better coordinated, and more responsive to individual needs.

WHAT IS PALLIATIVE CARE?

Palliative care is a specialised compassionate approach to care that focuses on improving the quality of life for people with advanced illnesses. It aims to relieve pain, manage symptoms, and support the persons physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and cultural needs. Palliative care helps people live their life as fully and as comfortably as possible when living with a life-limiting or terminal illness.

WHAT IS END OF LIFE CARE?

End-of-life care is part of palliative care and supports people in the final stages of life. It includes physical comfort, emotional support, spiritual care, and guidance for families and carers.

LOCAL PALLIATIVE CARE SERVICES

Download the Support Overview: for Northern Sydney Palliative and End‑of‑Life Care. A simple snapshot of the key supports available in our region. While it doesn’t list every service, it highlights the main options to help people understand where to begin and who can help.

PALLIATIVE CARE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

Palliative Care Australia: National organisation that works to make quality palliative care accessible for everyone, offering trustworthy information, guidance, and links to local services so people with life‑limiting illnesses, their families, carers and loved ones, can get the support they need to live well for as long as possible.

Palliative Care Australia

Palliative Care NSW: Building on this national support, Palliative Care NSW focuses on ensuring people across New South Wales can access high‑quality palliative care close to home. It connects communities with local services, practical guidance, and trusted resources so individuals with life‑limiting illnesses, and those who care for them, can receive compassionate, culturally responsive support within their own region.

PCNSW | Welcome to Palliative Care NSW 

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Jacqui Emery

Jacqui is a passionate advocate for equity in healthcare and an accomplished leader with over 20 years of experience across the not-for-profit, corporate, and media sectors.

Most recently, she served as CEO of Royal Far West, where she championed access to developmental, mental health, and allied health services for children in rural and remote communities. Her work has driven early intervention, education, and advocacy initiatives that have influenced policy and funding outcomes nationwide.

Jacqui’s deep commitment to creating opportunities for those who need them most aligns perfectly with SNHN’s vision:continuing to work collaboratively to help our community live their best health.

Ramon del Carmen

Ramon is a senior organisational leader with extensive experience in highly competitive and heavily regulated environments including banking and telecommunications as well as the not-for-profit health sector with over 12 years of CEO experience and 9 years of CFO experience. He combines innovation and strategic thinking with strong leadership to deliver results in challenging environments that are undergoing significant and time-critical change.

Ramon is currently a non-executive director and Treasurer of Bobby Goldsmith Foundation and held previous non-executive director positions with Your Side Australia and Primary and Community Care Services (PCCS).

Ramon has a Bachelor of Economics from The University of Sydney, an MBA and MA (Business Research) from Macquarie Graduate School of Management. He is a Fellow of Chartered Accountant Australia and New Zealand, and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Eugene McGarrell

Eugene has more than 45 years of experience in the health, social and wellbeing sectors across the UK and Australia, with roles in clinical, community development, management, and executive leadership. As CEO of Healthy Australia, he led initiatives like Safe, feedAustralia, and Thriving Together, which promoted children’s health and learning. He introduced innovative approaches in workers’ compensation, such as social prescribing, to prevent injuries and aid recovery.

A systems thinker, Eugene advocates for challenging convention and disrupting the status quo to address complex social problems. His career began as a mental health nurse, and he has worked across government and social services to tackle issues facing vulnerable communities. Notably, in 1998, he co-led a project in Kingston that reduced suicide rates by 40%.

Eugene co-designed The Collective NSW in 2013, bringing together community, government, and business to break the cycle of disadvantage, leading to successful initiatives like the Greenway Wellbeing Centre and SILC. He is dedicated to empowering communities to design their own solutions and improve health, social, and economic outcomes.

He holds a PG Dip in Care Policy and Management from London Guildhall University and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Sara Warburton

Sara is a skilled strategic leader with a wealth of experience in customer-centric leadership roles within the health and care sector. Her extensive career spans senior positions in business development, strategy, marketing communications, service innovation, and operational excellence across both the UK and Australia.

Sara has demonstrated her expertise in both for-profit and non-profit sectors, as well as within government contracts, where she has successfully driven organisational transformation programs and enhanced access and experience for patients and communities. Her dedication to excellence is further demonstrated by her volunteer roles, including serving as a Strategic Advisor to Frontline Yoga and most recently as Chief-of-Staff for a mental health startup.

Sara holds a Bachelor’s degree (Hons) in Business Management from Oxford Brookes University and has completed the MBA Essentials Course at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Additionally, she participated in the development of the McKinsey Not-For-Profit Executive Leadership Program and has informally studied behavioural economics and technology in healthcare.

Deb Pallavicini

Deborah’s general management responsibilities include teams working with and supporting primary healthcare providers across our region, including General Practitioners and Allied Health Professionals. Her strategic approach to role responsibilities provides solid direction for those teams engaged in quality improvement, chronic disease management, digital health, emergency response, improved service integration, corporate communications, and marketing. Deborah is also responsible for directing the Clinical Engagement team, ensuring our professional members’ capabilities are continually enhanced for delivering the right care to our local community at the right time and place.

With over 12 years of experience working as a Practice Manager in medium to large General Practices, Deborah has also worked with the Improvement Foundation (IF), taking part in the Australian Primary Care Collaboratives on two occasions. The experience she gained over this period has translated into a strong and practical understanding of the Primary Care environment and the importance of Quality Improvement for enhancing patient outcomes.

Deborah’s experience at SNHN is inclusive of involvement in the development and rollout of quality improvement programs inclusive of dementia management in general practice and broader chronic disease management programs; the COVID-19 response across the region’s primary care providers inclusive of RACFs, coupled with the later rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Deborah holds a Master’s in Health Management focusing on Quality and Safety in Healthcare and a Graduate Certificate in Health Science.