• Katherine Clark, Naomi Byfieldt, Malcolm Green, Peter Saul, Jill Lack, and Jane L Philips.
• Department of Palliative Care, Calvary Mater Newcastle, Edith Street, Waratah, NSW 2298, Australia.
• Aust Health Rev. 2014 May 1; 38 (2): 223-9.

AbstractThe Australian Commission for Quality and Safety in Health Care (ACQSHC) has articulated 10 clinical standards with the aim of improving the consistency of quality healthcare delivery. Currently, the majority of Australians die in acute hospitals. But despite this, no agreed standard of care exists to define the minimum standard of care that people should accept in the final hours to days of life. As a result, there is limited capacity to conduct audits that focus on the gap between current care and recommended care. There is, however, accumulating evidence in the end of life literature to define which aspects of care are likely to be considered most important to those people facing imminent death. These themes offer standards against which to conduct audits. This is very apt given the national recommendation that healthcare should be delivered in the context of considering people's wishes while always treating people with dignity and respect.

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