Retired palliative care specialist Dr Yvonne McMaster has spent years pushing for more palliative care beds. After hearing of a petition at the Dubbo Farmers Markets at the weekend, Dr McMaster said she hoped the community would help give a voice to palliative care.

The petition is to NSW Heath Minister Brad Hazzard. It reads: “Please end the shortage of palliative care by funding 10 additional specialist doctors, at a minimum; 129 extra palliative nurses; and culturally appropriate palliative care for Aboriginal people”.

The petition, which is aiming for 10,000 signatures, was started by CanAct and advocacy group trying to change politicians’ actions.

Dr McMaster said a greater focus on palliative care was needed, especially in areas such as Dubbo, where she has previously campaigned, as rural areas were worse off.

“Palliative care helps people to live for as long as they can for as well as they can until their very last breath. It’s really the difference between living as well as you can until you die or suffering until you die,” Dr McMaster said.

The need for palliative care was largely ignored due to the situation of those involved, the specialist said.

“Palliative care does not really have a voice. The people who are employed in palliative care are not allowed to speak, the dead don’t speak, the families are too busy looking after them to do anything about it and the dying don’t want for their stories to be plastered across the newspapers or radio,” Dr McMaster said.

NSW Health said the government was funding 36 more palliative care nurse educators and clinic nurse specialist positions, four nurse practitioner positions specialising in palliative care and seven extra palliative care physician training positions.