Pilot to make palliative care more accessible in SA

A new palliative care pilot will be launched in South Australia in an effort to make care more accessible.

Palliative care navigators will be employed to connect terminally ill patients with local palliative care services in a three-year pilot program for South Australia.

The $7.5 million Palliative Care Navigation Pilot will include both Adelaide and SA regional centres. Funded by the Australian Government, the pilot will be implemented in partnership with the SA Government.

As well as palliative care navigators helping individual patients and their families, the pilot will invest in a user-friendly phone line and a dedicated website offering information around the clock, as well as improving volunteer coordination and access to bereavement supports.

“The South Australian Government is pleased to operate this trial to give people in our state the first chance to experience the navigation model,” said Chris Picton MP, South Australian Minister for Health.

“I’m confident the use of palliative care navigators will lift the number of people using palliative care and in turn, reduce the physical and emotional suffering caused by life-limiting conditions such as cancer.”

The initiative aims to increase access to palliative care services in the community, by giving patients and their families better information about available services, smoother transition between types of care, and better support into end-of-life care pathways.

“Living with a life-limiting illness is an emotionally challenging time and makes it even harder for many patients and their families to navigate our complex health system,” said Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care.

“As a result, many people who could benefit from palliative care either miss out or receive it too late because they don’t realise what’s available.

“I want to acknowledge former Senator Stirling Griff for initiating this pilot after experiencing the system himself, losing his wife to cancer,” he said.

The program will also create better links between primary health networks, specialist palliative care services and relevant community-based services. By providing better coordinated care it will directly contribute to the goals of both the National Palliative Care Strategy and the National Health Reform Agreement.

Picton added, “The Malinauskas Labor government is also funding an additional 10 palliative care nurses across regional South Australia and has tasked the Health Performance Council of South Australia with undertaking an inquiry into the provision of palliative care services in the state.”

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