Palliative Care Australia Media Release

News of greater support for older Australians to be cared for at home recognises the wishes of older Australians and the complexity of care at the end of life.

The End-of-Life Pathway, announced by Aged Care Minister, Anika Wells, will provide up to $25,000 in additional aged care support at home during the final three months of life, under the Support at Home Program.

“This is a generous entitlement and responds to the advocacy of PCA and our members,” says Professor Meera Agar, PCA Chair.

“The new pathway recognises that people who are closer to the end of their life have greater needs and require specific investment to allow them to stay at home, it also recognises that 90% of Australians say they want to be cared for at home, with appropriate supports.

“We look forward to the detail of the policy being shared and contributing to the roll out and implementation of the new pathway to make sure it works for people, families, and the various health systems involved.”

Key aspects of the announcement requiring more detail include:

• Tying the funding to a three-month prognosis could be problematic because some older people living at home with a palliative condition need additional care well before that time frame.
• The application and assessment process needs be simple, provide maximum flexibility, and enable services to be delivered immediately.
• How the new entitlements will be accessed by people in rural and regional areas, where challenges persist in finding and retaining qualified staff across health and aged care.

The introduction of the Government’s new aged care legislation to parliament is also positive progress. The new legislation helps make palliative care “core business” for aged care providers, in line with the recommendations of Aged Care Royal Commission.

PCA and our members hope that once the Aged Care Act is in place the community will see further improvements in access to palliative care in all aged care settings.

“If the home care or residential aged care systems can’t respond then inevitability older Australians who are dying end up in hospital needlessly and against their end of life wishes,” Prof Agar says.

“Some providers and communities are better placed than others to access palliative care. We need to reduce that variability so that whoever you are and wherever you live, you can access quality of life at the end of life.

“Another issue we’ll keep raising with government are the needs of people under 65 who require 24/7 care within a health facility.

“The new Aged Care Act will confirm that aged care is only for older people. That is fine as long as people under 65 who have similar needs can get that help through other channels – something that is yet to be worked out.

“We have found the Government to be constructive partners in all the related health and care reforms, and PCA will continue to play an active role in future consultation and parliamentary processes,” Prof Agar says.