Report of QLD Inquiry into aged care, end-of-life and palliative care
Report of QLD Inquiry into aged care, end-of-life and palliative care
On Tuesday 24 March 2020, the first report theQueensland Parliamentary Committee inquiry into aged care, end-of-life and palliative care and voluntary assisted dying was published. ANZSPM made a submission the inquiry and notes this first report's strong focus on access to high-quality, people-centred palliative care at home, in hospital or an aged care residential facility. A separate, second report on voluntary assisted dying is due to be published on 31 March 2020.
The report makes 77 recommendations, including 26 recommendations focused on how to improve access to and delivery of palliative and end-of-life care services in Queensland. However, some recommendations are directed towards the Australian government, rather than the state government. Many of the recommendations suggest the Committee recognises the need for improvement in a number of areas of palliative care delivery in Queensland, including in relation to accessibility, community awareness, training and development of the palliative care workforce, new models of care including integration of care and carer support. The report also identifies a number of areas where the palliative care needs of Queenslanders are currently unmet including in relation to rural and remote areas of Queensland.
Key recommendations include:
The Revision and update of Queensland's Strategy for End-of-Life Care 2015;
The funding and provision of further assistance to communities and families to enable people to die at home supported by end-of-life care;
To establish a paediatric palliative care hospice outside of South East Queensland;
To improve after-hours access to palliative care services ensuring all palliative care patients have access to after-hours palliative care regardless of where they are;
To establish a centralised 24-hour, seven (7) day telehealth service available to practitioners caring directly for palliative patients throughout Queensland;
To build the capacity of telehealth or other digital services for patient consultations to enable people in regional, rural and remote areas to access health services not locally available;
Increased Australian and Queensland Government funding for palliative care;
To develop a needs-based funding model for specialist palliative care which includes packages of care instead of time-limited funding models;
Modelling of current and future workforce needs and development of a palliative care workforce strategy aligned with the national strategy;
To develop specialist support services to assist general practitioners, nurses, allied health workers and the aged care workforce;
To incorporate palliative care into tertiary education and training, and
Mandatory basic palliative care training for personal care workers.
While ANZSPM works through the details of this report ahead of the Queensland's government's response, we encourage members to email us at info@anzspm.org.au with any comments and feedback on the report. ANZSPM will inform members when the second report on voluntary assisted dying is tabled.