Palliative care report welcomed

A major report into palliative care in South Australia has been delivered, with the Malinauskas Labor Government accepting all recommendations to best meet the needs of South Australians into the future.

The inquiry was commissioned by Health and Wellbeing Minister Chris Picton in 2022 to examine the current provision of palliative care services in SA, best practice models in Australia and internationally and recommendations to enhance services.

Palliative care helps people live their life as fully and as comfortably as possible when living with a life-limiting or terminal illness. It identifies and helps treat physical, emotional, spiritual or social symptoms. As it is based on individual needs the services offered for each person will differ, but early referral can often support a better quality of life in a person’s final stages.

The Health Performance Council’s report projects that with an ageing and growing population there will be a significant increase in the number of deaths that could require palliative care services over the next twenty years in South Australia.

It made several findings and recommendations including:

• Lack of access to consistent and reliable data across national, state and private sector systems to help inform palliative care service design and funding decisions
• There is an under-reporting of patients accessing palliative care across all sectors
• The number of people dying in South Australia that could benefit from palliative care in their final stages is increasing due to rising rates of chronic disease and our ageing population
• The Department for Heath and Wellbeing’s existing 2022-27 Palliative Care Strategic Framework could provide greater clarity for the future intentions of palliative care services within SA with better connection between key goals, objectives and actions and outcomes
• The Department should continue to focus on increasing out-of-hospital services, including virtual care and in home care palliative care services, aligning with recommended best practice approaches and enabling patients access to care in their preferred setting
• By reviewing resource allocations, SA Health should aim to increase equity in palliative care service usage rates across the regions of the state
• The need to improve equity of access for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• A recommendation to engage with ministers from the Federal Government, and other states and territories on cross-jurisdictional improvements

Following the report’s findings, the Minister has asked the Department for Health and Wellbeing to provide an implementation plan on the review’s recommendations. The implementation plan will include a review of the 2022-27 Palliative Care Strategic Framework.

Ensuring South Australians have access to high-quality palliative care services is a priority for the South Australian Government, which has already supported and implemented a range of new services and initiatives, including:

• Recruitment of 10 regional specialist palliative care nurses across the six regional local health networks
• Establishment of the Palliative Care Medicines Community Pharmacy network, providing access to palliative care medicines, support, information and advice for people with life-limiting illnesses, their families and carers, and other health professionals
• The Ambulance Wish SA initiative, delivered by Palliative Care SA with support from SA Health, giving South Australians living with a life-limiting condition access to the planning, coordination, specialist transport, photography and clinical care to fulfil a special last wish
• Federal government funded initiatives of Comprehensive Palliative Care in Aged Care, supporting new and advanced ways of providing palliative and end-of-life care by state and territory governments to residents in aged care facilities
• Palliative Care Connect, a South Australian initiative supported by federal funding which is testing a model of palliative care and bereavement navigation to support people, their loved ones, health and community care professionals to access services and make informed decisions about healthcare

The report was commissioned by the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, following an unsuccessful request for such a report to be commissioned, by Tony Piccolo the Member for Light, to the previous Government.

The report can be viewed here.

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Quotes

Attributable to Chris Picton

Palliative Care is an incredibly important service for South Australians with a life-limiting or terminal illness. It helps people live as fully and comfortably as possible in the later stages of their lives.

I commissioned this report to provide a better understanding of palliative care services and needs in South Australia and to examine best practice models around Australia and the world so that we can make our services even better.

I thank the Health Performance Council for its report and we accept all its recommendations.

We want to ensure that all South Australians have access to the highest-quality services for themselves and their loved ones.

Attributable to Member for Light Tony Piccolo

As a passionate campaigner for equitable palliative care services across the state, I strongly welcome this report and I know my community will too.

Well-funded quality care services should be available to all South Australians, regardless of their wealth and geography.

This report provides an important blueprint for enhancing palliative care services across the state.

I thank the Minister for commissioning the report, when the previous Liberal Government refused to do so.

Attributable to Dr Peter Allcroft, Palliative Care Statewide Clinical Network Lead at the Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health (CEIH), Senior Staff Specialist for Palliative Care at Flinders Medical Centre and Chair for Palliative Care Australia

We welcome the Health Performance Council’s report into palliative care in South Australia. It highlights there are many things that care workers in both the public and private sector do well but recognises there is more work to be done.

The report has identified a series of recommendations, all which we have accepted. We have commenced work on an implementation plan on the review’s recommendations and we are committed towards a system that provides the services and care that people need now and into the future, regardless of where you live in South Australia.