Page 231 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 26 February 2014
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is seeking to organise are important for allowing further discussion about those matters in the community. Of course, I find it most intriguing that all opinion polling shows that a vast majority of Australians support some form of right to choose, and yet it is such a divided debate in this country. My surprise at that never ends.
At 6 pm, in accordance with standing order 34, the debate was interrupted. The motion for the adjournment of the Assembly having been put and negatived, the debate was resumed.
MR RATTENBURY: I do not want to speak too much longer other than to acknowledge that these are really challenging questions. I know people in the community want us to talk about this in a serious way.
I will speak briefly about advanced care because this is an important part in the spectrum of end of life—that is, the decisions and discussions that the community needs to be involved in. Recognising the importance of these end-of-life decisions, the Greens took the issue of advanced care planning to the last election and secured additional funding for advanced care planning in the parliamentary agreement. The budget last year included $1.2 million over the next four years for improvements to advanced care planning. This funding will enable ACT Health to develop and implemented range of appropriate care planning tools including establishing a mobile clinic. It will be a relief to many elderly patients and those with chronic illnesses in their families that they have access to these sorts of services.
The advanced care planning processes assist people to think about future medical scenarios they may face and what types of treatment they would wish to receive. It provides clear directions from a patient to their carers when the patient is no longer able to communicate their wishes. It also assists patients with their right to refuse future medical treatment.
Establishing such a process also helps patients to think through the various scenarios which may arise over the course of their illness rather than discovering the range of decisions necessary as they front up to them. Advanced care planning is an important way to assist older people to think about future medical scenarios they may face and what types of treatment they would wish to receive in such situations. It also makes formal reviews and decisions about their own lives so that this is clearly understood by both family and professionals.
I am particularly appreciative of the fact that these additional resources have been made available in the budget because until this point the respecting patient choices program run out of the Canberra Hospital which promotes advanced care planning was being administered by one part-time ACT Health staffer who also promoted advanced care plan to other ACT Health staff. Clearly that was a really good job, and the additional resources will mean that the promotion of this program will be improved and more people will have access to it. As a result of that, more people will have confidence about the later stages of their lives and will feel less nervous and less uncertain because they will have better knowledge. I certainly welcome that; it is a positive development.
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