Health and Hospital Care

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (15:00): I seek leave to ask the minister representing the Minister for Health questions regarding palliative care service cuts in the South-East of South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: It has come to my attention that dramatic cuts in staffing levels in the South-East regional palliative care service will come into effect on 1 July 2015, that is, in a fortnight's time. This will see palliative care services, I understand, become consultative in nature and therefore rely heavily on clinicians across the health spectrum to deliver their hands-on or face-to-face care to patients and families. For most, tending to patients who are dying is not an everyday occurrence and in line with many other conditions requires active support from those with a distinct body of specialist knowledge and expertise.

I have been advised that a reduction in these services can only be reflected in increased occurrence of complicated grief for families facing bereavement. For patients and families facing death at home, it can be a very lonely time, with the future unknown and often feared. People need to have confidence in the knowledge and skills of those who attend to them and from the competence of these professionals gain the courage to continue at home. In reducing the skilled support available, the demand on hospital beds, I am told, can only increase, at a time when many of the health system decisions seem to be predicated on reducing demand on hospital beds.

My understanding is that the following cuts have been made to the South-East palliative care service: clinical lead position in palliative care; bereavement counselling; nursing halved from full-time equivalents of 2.4 to 1.2; part-time nursing position for Bordertown; manager of geriatric evaluation and management (GEM), meaning the service is without a manager; and all GEM services across Country Health South Australia. My questions to the minister are:

1. Why is the minister tearing the heart out of the South-East regional palliative care service and these regional communities in the same process?

2. Does the minister understand that not all medical and allied health staff are trained in the end-of-life care process and very often do not have the necessary skills and aptitude to provide standards-based palliative care at home or in hospital or in residential aged care?

3. What does the minister suggest as an alternative for families and their dying loved ones in the South-East region?

4. What other cuts are being made to country health services in South Australia?

5. Is the minister aware of the challenges already faced by regional South Australians in accessing health care?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (15:03): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. I will take that question about changes in the delivery of services for palliative care in the South-East to the Minister for Health in the other place and seek a response on her behalf.

The PRESIDENT: The honourable, debonair and gallant Mr McLachlan.