Page 232 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 26 February 2014
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The other thing I will say towards the end of my remarks is that advanced care planning also underlines the very significant spectrum of issues that are to be discussed in this area. I was recently talking with the chair of the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing, David Lawrance, who many would know is also involved in palliative care here in the ACT in another capacity. We were discussing what palliative care means to people and the likely growing demand for it in future years. Again, that underlined to me the importance of these discussions both from the practical side of planning to ensure there is enough capacity through to the emotional side of talking with people about what they think their needs might be and what would make them comfortable should they find themselves with these sorts of needs down the line.
I will leave my remarks there other than to simply welcome the fact that Ms Porter has brought on this discussion because it recognises the fact that these are issues that are very real for a significant sector of our community; a sector of the community that I am talking with constantly. I know they are raising these issues with me and I look forward to further discussion inside this place but, more importantly, out in the community about how we move forward on some of these very sensitive issues.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Health and Minister for Higher Education) (6.04): I welcome the opportunity to speak to Ms Porter’s motion today on the very important issue of end-of-life care and raising awareness of it across the community. As our population ages it is important that the ACT creates a more open culture where talking about death and dying is normal and an expected outcome of life both within our community and with health professionals across the ACT. The first step, of course, is to start the conversation within our community and within our families to talk about the end-of-life experience we want for ourselves and those we love and care for.
The report released by the AIHW in November last year entitled Palliative Care Services in Australia 2013 showed a 49 per cent increase in palliative care separations across Australia between 2001-02 and 2010-11. Separations from public and private hospitals in palliative care accounted for 0.6 of separations but 37.2 per cent of patients who died as an admitted patient had been a palliative care patient. Over the five years to 2011-12, Medicare benefits paid for palliative medicines, specialists and services have more than doubled.
The report also included some interesting facts about the ACT. Some 743 palliative care public hospital separations occurred in the 2010-11 year. Of these 69 per cent were public patients, 21 per cent were private patients and 9.3 per cent were Department of Veterans’ Affairs patients. Public hospital palliative care separations in the ACT increased by 8.4 per cent between 2006-07 and 2010-11.
What we can see from these statistics is that the demand for palliative care services continues to grow, and that is not surprising considering the ageing population here in the ACT. What we also know is that an ever-increasing number of patients want to die in their own homes surrounded by family.
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