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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2244 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

doing what they are doing if I was not. They are part of the team and I have to say that we are all as good as each other.

MR OSBORNE: I have a tear in my eye after hearing that. My question is to the Minister for Health and Community Care, Mr Moore, and relates to after-hours palliative care. Minister, could you inform the Assembly of the services currently available for after-hours palliative care for people in their homes? Do you intend to continue a commitment to a discrete palliative care evening service? If so, will it be staffed with trained specialists, as it is now?

MR MOORE: I thank Mr Osborne for that series of questions. I had a brief come across my desk this morning on this very matter. In fact, I showed it to the Chief Minister because the brief dealt with a series of assertions that had been made by Mr Stanhope on WIN Television with regard to this matter. It pointed out to me the errors in what Mr Stanhope had said. I can only describe what he said in a very short statement, I must say, as being patently false.

Let me give some details about the integrated health care program's home-based palliative care service. Any changes being made to the home-based palliative care service are purely administrative and are driven by organisational change. No client will be disadvantaged by these changes.

The integrated health care program recently moved into a three-region management structure which brought the palliative care team under the central team. Home-based palliative care services are currently being reviewed to examine work practices and the staff skills mix in light of recent staffing changes which have occurred in the service.

The review is to ensure that the services provided by the home-based palliative care team are consistent in their quality with other services operated and offered to members of the ACT public by the integrated health care program. Mr Osborne will recall that when I tabled Setting the agenda I was seeking to improve integration all the way through, and that is what I am continuing to seek to do.

The clinical nurse consultant of the home-based palliative care team is on extended leave and the position has been backfilled. The duties have been changed in order to make this position consistent with that of the other clinical nurse consultants in the program. Indeed, the person on leave wrote to me personally about some of these issues and I have responded to her. I have told her that I will monitor the situation carefully and seek briefings from the department to ensure that the best palliative care services are delivered to as many people as possible within the ACT. I am continuing to do that, which is why the brief was on my table this morning.

The consultants that I am talking to are registered nurses, level 3, and have responsibility for staff education, staff training and a small clinical load. These positions are clinical positions; they are not management positions. The nurse coordinator and the manager of the central team have adequate managerial skills and experience to oversee the delivery of all nursing and multidisciplinary services to clients in the region.

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