Figures released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare on Wednesday showed the ACT had the highest rate of palliative care patients in public hospitals in the country in 2015-16 at 33 per 10,000.

That rate has increased from 19.8 in 2011-12, 9.2 in 2012-13, 20.8 in 2013-14 and 25.9 in 2014-15.

There's been a 79 per cent increase in the number of palliative care patients in public hospitals in the same period - from 736 patients in 2011-12 to 1319 in 2015-16.

On top of this palliative patients stayed in ACT public hospitals longer than anywhere else, except the Northern Territory, on average 11.6 days.

Palliative care staff in the ACT also worked the longest hours in the country - 36.3 hours per week for nurses and 51.3 hours per week for specialist palliative medicine physicians.

Palliative Care ACT president Louise Mayo said the strain end-of-life care placed on the health system and carers had prompted them to develop a proposal for a short-stay respite centre for palliative care patients.

Ms Mayo said the centre would complement the ACT's existing palliative care hospice, Clare Holland House, which was often too full to provide respite care, and would stop families at crisis point having to send their dying loved ones to hospital out of sheer desperation.

"About 70 per cent of the population want to die at home. In the ACT we're doing better than the rest of Australia on that, about 30 per cent of people get their wish to die at home, 16 per cent higher than the rest of the country but we've identified two barriers to dying at home - carer fatigue and isolation. The Hub has been designed to mitigate those barriers," she said.

"We haven't been able to find another model of care like this in the palliation space, there's no overnight respite palliation for people anywhere in Australia. There are definitely hospices that have specialist medical support but this is not that, this is just another version of being at home but one where carers can recharge their batteries."

The Hub would have about eight suites with an ancillary bedroom for carers to stay in.

Each suite would have its own courtyard, so patients could have visitors or bring their dog, Ms Mayo said.

The centre would allow people to stay during the day, while their regular carer was at work or attending appointments, or overnight so their carer could get some rest.

Patients could cycle in and out of The Hub as much as they needed, rather than staying for long block periods, Ms Mayo said.

"What we're finding in our research and from anecdotal experience is when a person with a life-limiting illness goes to hospital they want their personal carer with them, they don't want to be separated. The suites we'll build will have a secondary bedroom where the primary carer can get some rest themselves," Ms Mayo said.

"We believe The Hub will allow people to use support services and be another part of palliation support in partnership with the hospitals and the hospice."

Palliative Care ACT hopes to begin building the Hub by 2020 although the exact timeline will depend on how quickly they can raise the money needed to build and staff the centre.

End-of-life care is not covered under the National Disability Insurance Scheme but early costings indicate it will be much cheaper to have a patient stay at The Hub than in an acute hospital bed.

The group is in talks with ACT Health on its model of care, and raised $103,000 at the annual Palliative Care ACT fundraising dinner on Saturday night.

They're also selling bricks to help build the centre at $50 a pop. Business can also buy a gold brick for $1000.

Ms Mayo said the John James Foundation, Morgan’s Financial Services and Lend Lease had already offered "significant" financial support for the project.

The proposal comes almost a month after a $6 million expansion to Clare Holland House was announced.

The palliative care hospice will receive $4 million from the federal government, $2 million from the Snow Foundation while the ACT government will fund the extra staff needed for the up-to 12-bed expansion. 

Ms Mayo said recent discussions about voluntary euthanasia had put a spotlight on the need for more palliative care resources in Canberra.

An ACT Legislative Assembly inquiry looking at end-of-life choices is due to report back next month on the provision of palliative care and the applicability of the Victorian assisted dying scheme to the territory.

To buy a brick email Palliative Care ACT at office@pallcareact.org.au