Senator Trish Crossin has welcomed the announcement of a $14.4 million package to provide extra services and equipment for palliative care.
Date: 28 May 2009
Senator Trish Crossin has welcomed the announcement of a $14.4 million package to provide extra services and equipment for palliative care.
The announcement comes during National Palliative Care Week (24-30 May 2009), which raises awareness about access to palliative care services to help Australians at the end stage of life.
Each year more than 20,000 Australians receive specialist palliative care and more than 500,000 patients, carers, family members or friends are affected.
The new initiatives are:
- $11 million over two years for local grants to help community groups, aged care providers and charitable organisations provide support to palliative care patients and their families;
- More than $2.9 million for equipment upgrades and research;
- More than $500,000 in one-off local grants for 2008-09 for non-government organisations to improve support for patients and their families, and to develop greater local capacity and tailored resources; and
- Updating the National Palliative Care Strategy.
"By funding these initiatives, it will help support both the patients receiving care and the thousands of dedicated Australians who volunteer and work in palliative care," Senator Crossin said.
"I encourage local organisations to apply for these upcoming grants to assist them in providing support for palliative care patients and their families.
"Everyone who works in this area is to be commended for their commitment in delivering quality care.
"People receiving palliative care and their families are going through one of the most difficult times of their lives and services would not be available without teams of dedicated people delivering high quality care to patients," Senator Crossin said.