Clinic of supportive and palliative cares

Once limited to end-of-life, supportive care is now at the heart of cancer treatment at the Institut Bordet. And this includes from the start of treatment.

The Supportive and Palliative Care Clinic provides continuing comfort care aimed at controlling and alleviating the symptoms and consequences of cancer and of certain treatments: pain, digestive, psychological and sexual disorders, skin problems, socio-economic difficulties, etc.

Supportive care has 3 objectives:

• to improve the patient’s quality of life throughout their care;
• to encourage the continuance of and adherence to treatment;
• to encourage return home (where possible).

The Supportive Care Clinic works in close collaboration with many medical and paramedical specialists including cancer psychologists, geriatric oncologists, gastroenterologists, etc. It comprises a mobile team and a hospital-based unit.

The mobile team, on request, visits other departments, attending patients and providing advice and information to Institut Bordet nursing staff. It also participates in certain multidisciplinary cancer care meetings (CMOs).

Transfer to the Acute Supportive Care Unit (UASS) is arranged when it becomes difficult to control a patient’s symptoms and/or when the support care is too complex to be administered in a “traditional” hospital unit or at home.