Keep it at home
Delegates at a palliative care conference have heard that they must remember that most aged care is provided in the community.
Above: Dr Scott Blackwell
By Yasmin Noone
Aged and community care advocates who fight for aged care residents to be given better access to palliative care services must be mindful of where the majority of older adults will hopefully die in the future – in the comfort of their own home.
President of Palliative Care Australia, Dr Scott Blackwell, urged attendees at the 11th Australian Palliative Care Conference in Cairns today to not lose sight of their end goal of enabling more older adults to die well at home, while pursing the delivery of quality palliative care services in residential aged care.
During a panel discussion about the recent Productivity Commission report, Caring for Older Australians, at the ‘Diversity’ themed event, Dr Blackwell reminded the audience that if the federal government adopts the recommendations of the commission, palliative care is going to be provided in the home, not just residential facilities.
“… A large proportion of care will be community-based services,” Dr Blackwell said. “I am concerned that we don’t take our eye off that [goal] as we go forward.”
If that were to happen, he said, “the growing need in the community for palliative care services could be unmet”.
But Dr Blackwell commented that he had faith that palliative care services would be better integrated into both the aged and community care sectors in the near future as “there is a willingness in aged care to do things better”.
“Certainly, that’s what I find.”
The final PC report recognised that palliative care should be a fundamental part of the aged care system.
Palliative Care Australia advocates that because over 50,000 Australians die in residential aged care facilities each year, it is essential that palliative care be embedded throughout the aged care system to ensure that all older Australians have access to the highest quality palliative and end-of-life care.
CEO of Palliative Care Australia, Dr Yvonne Luxford said she was extremely pleased with the outcome of the PC final report, given the strong palliative care focus and the inclusion of the “to die well” objective.
“I think we did really well,” Dr Luxford told the audience. “The next thing we need to do is get feedback from the sector [on the PC recommendations].”
For example, she asked delegates to consider if the commission had gone far enough with the detail, or whether it failed to suggest other recommendations, specific to providing better access to palliative care in aged care.
Dr Luxford called on all palliative care workers to join the ongoing conversation about the PC report, sound the call for more funding loud and clear, and tell the federal government what an appropriate government response should look like to better improve the delivery of palliation services in aged care.
“We need a major commitment from government that the next budget will be the ‘aged care budget’. We need a funding commitment and we need that message to be loud and clear.
“The Prime Minister promised aged care reform for this term of government, but we need to continue to put pressure on the government to [achieve] financial funding.
Access to and the delivery of better palliative care services, she said, would not something that would “happen quickly”.
“It’ll take a long time so we need forward planning and a funding commitment from government.”
