Page 5042 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 26 October 2011
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With every budget round, the adequacy of funding of palliative care services is examined. For example, in the last budget we allocated almost $11 million to Capital Region Cancer Service to help it meet its rising demand for cancer services. This funding boost will give the service the necessary resources to meet anticipated growth in demand in the short term, but I am sure we will see budget bids from them for next year’s budget as well.
In recent years, the government has made extra investments in the palliative care workforce, including funding for a palliative care aged-care clinical nurse consultant to liaise between the specialist palliative care services and residential aged-care facilities. The government has also recently filled two new palliative care nurse practitioner positions, with the assistance of some funding from the commonwealth. One is based in cancer services at the Canberra Hospital and the other is with the home-based palliative care service.
In the policy area, the ACT is, of course, actively engaged on the national stage. The national palliative care strategy was developed by the Australian government and agreed to by all states and territories in 2010. We are currently working with the Australian government, and indeed I have outlined a couple of the areas to implement the national strategy. This process is being overseen by the national palliative care working group, a committee under the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council.
Another important recent development has been the finalisation of National framework for advance care directives, which was recently agreed to by Australian health ministers. This document aims to provide direction for policy and practice for advance care planning in Australia and to assist in working towards nationally consistent use and application of advance care directives. The ACT will be working with other states and territories to implement recommendations under this framework.
Overall, the current ACT palliative care strategy which is about to be reviewed has served the community well. It was developed in the context of Palliative Care Australia’s national palliative care standards at the time, and services delivered under the strategy were delivered in accordance with those standards. Implementation of the strategy has been overseen by a steering committee which has included representation from all major stakeholders. The committee has made considerable progress to date in promoting coordinated palliative care services in the ACT. But times are changing, expectations are changing, thinking changes and demand changes. It is time for this new strategy that will look at all of those issues over the future years. Work has already begun on that.
I turn to the amendment I have circulated. I move:
Omit subparagraphs (2)(a) and (b), substitute:
“(a) conduct an independent review of palliative care services in the ACT to assist in the development of the 2012 Palliative Care Strategy; and
(b) include in that review an examination of:
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