Palliative Care Week initiative from Government
A new community education initiative on palliative care has been
launched in Canberra by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for
Health and Ageing, Senator Brett Mason.
“This week is National Palliative Care Week and this year a major
awareness-raising initiative is being undertaken by Palliative Care
Australia (PCA), with financial support from the Australian Government,” Senator Mason said.
“National Palliative Care Week is part of the broader initiative of the
National Palliative Care Program which aims to improve access to and
quality of palliative care services in Australia.
“The National Palliative Care Program has four priority areas: support
for patients, families and carers in the community; increased access to
palliative care medicines in the community; education, training and
support for the workforce; and research and quality improvement for
palliative care services.
“National Palliative Care Week will highlight this and other good
palliative work in Australia, which has made Australia one of the world
leaders in palliative care services.
As part of the initiative this year there will be special emphasis on
collaboration with Indigenous stakeholders and culturally and linguistic
diverse (CALD) communities.
Key members of Indigenous and mainstream services will meet to discuss a plan for culturally appropriate palliative care delivery for Indigenous Australians.
Work is continuing with CALD communities to tackle the needs of CALD
groups and as part of this year’s initiative the publication “What to
say, What to do” is being translated into several languages.
Also as part of this year’s initiative, PCA will strengthen links with
organisations including the Australian General Practice Network, Cancer Council Australia and Carers Australia.
This latest initiative is part of the Australian Government’s overall
funding for palliative care programs. The Australian Government has
allocated $85.9m through the Palliative Care in the Community and the
Palliative Care Grants program. In addition, $201m has been allocated to
the states through the current Australian Health Care Agreements for
palliative care.
