Palliative care and hospices must be fully funded

Danielle van Dalen, in her Neglect is killing hospices (July 22), asked a very important question as to why palliative care is so poorly funded while assisted dying is fully funded.

One does not have to be a rocket scientist to know the answer: assisted dying is the cheapest form of healthcare. This was one of the fears many of us expressed during the time of submission towards the End of Life Choice Bill.

There is enough evidence around the world to show that there is a link between good palliative care and the reduction of assisted dying. Irrespective of where one stands on the issue of euthanasia, all Kiwis must fight for a palliative care system that is fully funded and widely available.

Doing anything less exacerbates the irony that the legalisation of euthanasia actually reduces the ability to exercise personal autonomy.

Michael Pui, Amberley

Minister must act

I was horrified to read that hospices are considering reducing services or perhaps even closing entirely. Palliative care is an essential service, and hospices are staffed by dedicated nursing and other specialists.

There is no alternative within our overburdened health service to fill the gap if they disappear.

My wife was admitted to Nurse Maude hospice in Christchurch when she needed urgent terminal care, and my family and I have been grateful ever since for the treatment she received.

I would plead with the minister for health to act urgently to rectify this looming disaster.

Vic Smith, Halswell

Costly pathway

I’m going to enjoy the coastal pathway finally being completed but cannot believe the cost of $17.3 million for the final approximately 1 kilometre as advised by the Christchurch City Council.

Sure, I recognise it’s a bit more complicated than most cycleways/ pathways, but considering the cost of the 58km Lake Dunstan Cycle Trail ( which was also more complicated than most) at $7m , I’d like to know how this eye-watering figure can be defended.

Lets break it down further. $17300 per metre (Christchurch Coastal Pathway) $121 per metre (Lake Dunstan Trail). Really !

No doubt bureaucracy, red tape and traffic management accounts for a fair chunk – as is the case with the current works along this section of road.

I cringe every time I drive through these works, which are reduced to one lane and although controlled with traffic lights, there is a traffic management truck parked at each end, each with a driver sitting in the cab.

Don’t tell me it’s to manage access for emergency vehicles because just recently I witnessed an ambulance with siren and flashing lights waiting at the red light like everyone else.

Maybe Fulton Hogan can explain.

Ash Taylor, Sumner