Optional discussion worksheet
Home comfort and contact plan
Agree realistic home support, out-of-hours help, prescribed symptom care and a backup plan with the treating team.
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1. Who will help and where will we go?
Complete these details with the treating or palliative-care team before relying on home care. Availability and response times vary. An appointment or WhatsApp number must not be assumed to provide emergency or round-the-clock support.
Plan date / coordinating clinician / patient’s preferred place of care
Daytime team: telephone, hours, what to say and expected callback route
Out-of-hours team: telephone, hours and what to do if there is no response
Urgent assessment location / agreed transport or ambulance route / documents to carry
Main caregiver / backup / who can reach the home and who has current instructions
2. Comfort care that the team has actually arranged
Keep the current prescription separately. Do not start, stop, combine or increase medicines from this worksheet. Ask a professional to demonstrate unfamiliar nursing tasks and watch you practise.
Main symptoms / current clinician instructions / when to call if not controlled
Prescription location, medicine supply, safe storage and who checks remaining stock
If swallowing or medicine administration becomes difficult: whom to call for a revised plan
Equipment, pressure care, mouth care, toileting or mobility help; who provides training
Food and drink comfort advice from the team; coughing or choking when swallowing to report
3. Make a backup plan before it is needed
Home care should not depend on one exhausted person. Say if care feels unsafe or unmanageable. New severe symptoms or an unexpected deterioration need assessment. If death is expected at home, complete the separate after-death contact plan with the team before discharge.
Daily roles, respite and overnight support; what the family cannot safely provide
How the team will review symptoms and supplies; next planned contact
Symptoms or changes needing an urgent call; what to do if serious and help is not reachable
If home care cannot continue: receiving service, transfer plan and who coordinates it
Any existing verified clinical plan or advance directive: location for the team to check
Before sharing or printing
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These are discussion prompts, not prescriptions, emergency instructions or formal medical or legal documents. Use the current verified plan from your care team.
Read with this tool
- Preparing together for the last weeks and days of life
- When cancer returns or treatment stops working: a guide for patients and families
- Cancer treatment in later life: a guide for older adults and families
Sources and further reading
These prompts accompany the source-checked guides linked above. Their Sources and further reading sections contain the original references.