PALLATIVE care services throughout the Greater Ipswich region are set to expand thanks to a new range of initiatives being rolled out.
Delivered through the Queensland Government’s $171 million Palliative Care Reform program, the local initiatives from West Moreton Health include employing additional allied health, medical and nursing staff to expand the Hospital in the Home program to treat palliative care patients.
The new initiatives also include employing two new palliative care doctors, establishing a palliative care consult team to improve access to specialist palliative care across the hospital setting, and appointing a Palliative Care Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Liaison Officer.
Federal Member for Blair Shayne Neumann said anything that improved palliative care was welcomed by Ipswich.
“Initiatives like this are really crucial,” he said.
“There was a report by the Grattan Institute some years ago called ‘Dying Well’ – and it stated that Australians do not die in the circumstances in which they wish to, compared to many other countries.”
That report stated that 70% of Australians wanted to die at home, while only 14% do.
“We are putting a lot more money into palliative care and understanding that,” Mr Neumann said.
“But I think that what we’ve got to do is provide for Australians the security and dignity of dying the way they want to die.”
West Moreton Health Palliative Care Services acting nurse unit manager Ela Thompson said the improvements were designed to make the end-of-life process as comfortable as possible for patients and their loved ones.
“Providing safe, compassionate care is always our priority so being able to deliver new and expanded palliative care services for our patients is incredibly important. “We are continually looking at ways to make things better for our patients.”
