Palliative Care Australia’s CEO Rohan Greenland says the organisation welcomes Labor’s commitment to improving palliative care across the country.

Speaking at the Canberra Hospital today, Labor leader Bill Shorten and health spokesperson Catherine King announced a $6million commitment to fund a new in-patient palliative care facility for Canberrans, building on already announced funding for palliative care services in Woy Woy (NSW) and Perth.

“Since the last Federal Election, there have been parliamentary end-of-life inquiries completed by the Tasmania, Victoria, ACT and the Western Australia parliaments. All of these inquiries have made very strong recommendations that palliative care be prioritised by governments and health services to increase access.

“160,000 Australians die every year, 120,000 of which may benefit from receiving palliative care, where currently only 40,000 are able to do so. This commitment to improving specialist palliative care services from the Labor Party should they win the next election are very welcome,” said Mr Greenland.

Palliative Care ACT General Manager, Julie Elliott also welcomes the announcement.

“We look forward to working with Canberra Health Services and welcome the opportunity to share our knowledge and experience, to achieve a holistic approach that specialist palliative care requires,” said Ms Elliott

Palliative Care Australia welcomes Labor’s election commitment to improve palliative care