Home-based palliative care program launched

Innovative community-based palliative care approaches continue to emerge with the launch this week of a state-wide initiative in Tasmania.

All Tasmanians can access 24-hour palliative care in their own home under the commonwealth-funded initiative launched on Monday by Assistant Minister for Health Senator Fiona Nash.

The Hobart District Nursing Service, which is funded up to $35.2 million over three years to deliver 2,000 “wrap-around” palliative care packages through its hospice@Home program, has been successfully delivering trial packages in all regions of Tasmania under a pilot since mid-December.

The packages are funded under the $63 million Better Access to Palliative Care (BAPC) Program, which was announced by then minister for health Tanya Plibersek in June 2012 as part of the $325 million Tasmanian Health Assistance Package.

Hobart District Nursing Service chief executive Kim McGowan said as of lunch time Wednesday, they already had 119 packages on the ground.

“We are offering 24-hour care if that is what they need,” Ms McGowan said.

The “wrap-around” packages aim to fill gaps currently in the system and prevent unnecessary admissions to hospital that arise from not being able to get the right equipment or someone to relieve the carer, she said.

Ms McGowan said older people would make up a large proportion of recipients of the service, which is free to clients. It is available to Tasmanians of all ages living in the community with a life limiting illness or who are deemed palliative including people with disabilities living in group homes.

More than 80 per cent of Tasmanians have expressed a desire to die at home but less than one in four people actually got to do that because the service has not been available until now, Ms McGowan said.

hospice@Home

In addition to supplying care staff, the hospice@Home service can supplement what community organisations are already doing to enable continuity of care or a favourite carer to stay on.

“You might already have a really effective community nursing organisation who has got some support carers going into a home but they simply can’t put anymore care in, they can’t afford to. We will top up the funds of those organisations to be able to,” Ms McGowan said.

Ms McGowan said they had contracts with 11 organisations to continue delivering care to their clients under a brokered care agreement.

The provider began rolling out pilot packages in mid-December. Ms McGowan said transport to assist clients attend treatment or appointments and equipment, such as hospital beds, had been among the biggest areas of need.

“One of the things we didn’t calculate for is people would rather have a really good motorised recliner with a foot rest than a bed,” Ms McGowan said. “We are frantically sourcing motorised recliners at the moment from all over Australia.”

Elsewhere under the BAPC program, the Tasmanian Association for Hospice and Palliative Care received up to $2.67 million to provide infrastructure services and the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services received $11 million to support and enhance the existing specialist palliative care teams across Tasmania.