00:00:08:18 - 00:00:37:21
Speaker 1
With this program. Our initial idea was to address the inequity in access to palliative care that actually occurs right across Australia. We also know that there is a lot of myths and misunderstandings about what palliative care really is. A lot of people think that it's just the end of life and it's not. A significant number of people will actually want to pass away at home as well. So really good palliative care service provision is key to making that happen.
00:00:44:23 - 00:01:05:08
Speaker 2
Sometimes people ask us that they want to stay at home in their final days of their death. But unfortunately, before this program rolled out, we did not have any option to offer them any of these options. With this program, we can offer them that they can stay at home and die at their own terms.
00:01:05:10 - 00:01:17:13
Speaker 1
This program, this Greater Choice program, is really so important because it's improving the quality of care delivered where it's mostly delivered in Australia, and that's by general practice.
00:01:17:15 - 00:01:23:05
Speaker 2
There was a significant gap for the palliative care in Hay especially.
00:01:23:07 - 00:01:37:01
Speaker 1
We worked with the PCOC team to adapt their PCOC form to suit the needs of primary care practitioners so that it's more reflective of the actions and clinical interventions that a GP would undertake.
00:01:37:03 - 00:01:58:21
Speaker 2
We are also doing a lot of things for them if we think they are in the last stages of their days. We do advance care directives and we also allowing regular phone calls. We also visit them regularly under this program. So it's definitely have a community for this program that they are more aware of that and they can utilise more services.
00:01:58:23 - 00:02:30:15
Speaker 1
A really important aspect of the PCOC program is the fact that it contains a symptom assessment scale, which is a tool to ideally the patient, but sometimes the carer completes. And what's so important about that is that it gives a real patient voice to every time they come in and have a palliative care assessment. Because what that tool asks is what's most distressing to the patient and not what the practitioner is considering to be most distressing for the patient.
00:02:30:17 - 00:02:51:17
Speaker 2
With the help of this program, we have accumulated the resources. We have spoken to all the stakeholders like the hospital management, ambulance service, palliative care nurse. We are all on the same page that help us to bring all the resources together to help the patient as a one team rather than everyone else working there on.
00:02:51:19 - 00:23:59:07
Speaker 1
What we've been able to achieve here. There's certainly lessons learnt that can be applied right across the region. We only have one opportunity to die and it's so important that we get that right for people.