Palliative Care is care offered to persons at the end of their lives. It is care that offers dignity, respect and integrity for the life of the one who is about to pass over to the next life. Access to Palliative Care is not available in all cities and regions in Australia. It is a challenge, an extreme challenge for culturally and linguistically diverse people, disabled persons and those of other religions that require specific care. Now read on.
Without action, our future is one of diminishing care for people and families living and dying with terminal illness.
Current data presents a confronting picture of access to the quality of life at the end of life that palliative care offers.
Right now, every day in Australia, around 400 people die of terminal illnesses like heart disease, dementia, and cancer. All people with a terminal illness need and deserve access to palliative care – it is a human right, yet three in five people (62%) do not receive specialist palliative care at any stage.
Our ageing population adds to the urgency. Conservatively estimated, 92% of people who die in residential aged care would benefit from palliative care, yet only 3% of people living in residential aged care see a palliative medicine specialist in the first year following admission, while only a third of those entering residential aged care receive a GP health assessment or care planning within their first year.
The vision of the Aged Care Royal Commission was that palliative care be embedded in aged care – progress is too slow in achieving that.
If you see Australia as a compassionate community that respects the needs of those living with a terminal illness please show your support for Palliative Care Australia’s plan for ‘better access to palliative care’ and sign this petition.
Our plan can be viewed on the PCA website and includes better access to palliative care via local GPs and nurses and aged care services, better access for people under 65 living with disability as a result of terminal illness, and better access to critical palliative care medicines.
If we don’t fix this, people will continue to be admitted to hospital for care they could receive in their home, and people will continue to have limits placed on their end of life choices.
Signatures: 28,676
Next goal: 35,000
