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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-07-02 Daily Xml
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Palliative Care Services

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT (14:42): I seek leave to ask the minister representing the Acting Minister for Health questions about palliative care services cuts in the South-East of South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.L. VINCENT: Further to my questions some two weeks ago in this place regarding dramatic cuts in staffing levels in the South-East regional palliative care service that came into effect yesterday, it has come to my attention that there have also been cuts to the South Coast or Fleurieu Peninsula palliative care program. I understand a specialist palliative care nurse full-time equivalent person has been transitioned to the community team and will be part of the generalist round. Palliative care episodes will only begin three months prior to death or if the patient is deemed to be in a terminal phase. I also understand that people under 65 years old with a terminal illness will have no service coverage at all under this change.

As I said in this place last month, 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. It is essential that specialist care is available at this difficult time. My questions to the minister are:

1. Why is the minister, in addition to cutting South-East palliative care services, also cutting palliative care services to the South Coast?

2. I ask again: does the minister understand that not all medical and allied health care staff are trained in end-of-life care, and very often do not have the skill or aptitude to provide standards-based palliative care at home, in hospital or in residential aged care settings?

3. What services will be available to people under 65 years of age who are experiencing a terminal illness in this region of South Australia?

4. With these reduced services, will South Australia now be known for its arguably Third World palliative care services?

5. With no after-hours on-call for dying patients who want to stay at home, who will address these issues? How will they manage additional stress for relatives who are already distressed by their dying relative?

6. Will there be any expectation that GPs newly contracted to work in hospitals who do not have training or expertise in caring for people facing death and bereavement be expected to do so anyway, and what alternatives will be available for people in these regions with cuts in this area?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:46): I thank the honourable member for her important questions and very genuine concern and interest in these matters. I do not have the answers to the questions on palliative care in front of me now, but I will undertake to bring back a reply to her questions as soon as I possibly can.

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