Palliative care is an approach that is aimed at improving the quality of life for both patients who have an illness that is incurable, and for their families. The UK National Council for Palliative Care describes palliative care in terms of supportive care as:

Supportive care helps the patient and their family to cope with their condition and treatment of it — from pre-diagnosis, through the process of diagnosis and treatment, to cure, continuing illness or death and into bereavement. It helps the patient to maximise the benefits of treatment and to live as well as possible with the effects of the disease. It is given equal priority alongside diagnosis and treatment… (www.ncpc.org.uk/palliative_care.html)