The Dubbo community will be able to shape the future of palliative care in the region after the NSW government announced it would be a ‘top priority’.
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Regional roundtables will be held across NSW to allow the public to share their views on palliative care, said Parliamentary Secretary for Regional and Rural Health Leslie Williams.
On Wednesday, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard called end of life care “one of the government’s top priorities”. Not only would he be focusing on better care, but Mr Hazzard said he would be looking at more tailored, community- based palliative care services.
The roundtables will be lead by Ms Williams, beginning in Orange on May 1. It’s a cause the Parliamentary Secretary is well versed on, having worked as a nurse in a palliative care ward.
“We want to make sure palliative care is available to all people in regional NSW, no matter their postcode,” Ms Williams told The Daily Liberal.
“The feedback that we’re getting through the discussions is that we as a government do have more work to do.”
While the roundtables will be closed groups with invited stakeholders, the public will have a chance to provide comment on a discussion paper to be released in June.
“I can assure you we want to hear from absolutely everybody who has views on palliative care in their community,” Ms Williams said.
She said part of the discussion would be finding out where palliative services were doing really well and how that could be replicated in other areas.
However, Ms Williams said she knew there was a diverse group of people who needed palliative care and they had a diverse range of needs.
Cancer Council NSW has been a strong advocate for increased palliative services in Dubbo.
Susie Hill- who has been drumming up signatures for Cancer Council NSW’s petition for more palliative care specialists- said it was a horror watching her husband and not knowing what to do. However there was an incredible difference when he was admitted to Westmead Hospital’s palliative care, she said.
“I just don’t want other people to go through that horror, that helplessness. It wasn’t his GPs fault, he tried everything he could, but he couldn’t control the pain, whereas the palliative doctors are simply amazing. They know how to listen and how to talk and how to give dignity,” Ms Hill said.