Why the end of life doesn’t have to be dire
THERE are currently 145 active palliative care patients and seven palliative care nurses in the Dubbo region, but no full-time palliative care doctor.
With funding available, one of the country’s most formidable palliative care advocates is urging health authorities to advertise the role overseas.
Dr Yvonne Mcmaster OAM was one of the first palliative care specialists in Australia and she has dedicated her retired life to fight for palliative funding and resources across the state, particularly focusing on rural areas.
“I’ve been back and forth to Dubbo quite a lot of times and I have big, big heart for Dubbo and I’m very keen to get a palliative care doctor for Dubbo,” Dr Mcmaster told Dubbo Photo News.
“We have funding for one, which is great, but I don’t think we have been extending ourselves enough in the advertising, to be honest.”
Dr Mcmaster believes many Australian doctors tend to choose to specialise in palliative care later in their medical careers and may not be in a position to relocate their lives to a regional town.
Her suggestion is to look for specialised doctors in the United Kingdom, where palliative care was established in the 1960s, decades before it became a recognised specialty in Australia.
“What I’m really trying to do is get the local health district and the local government, both of them, to be focused on the idea that we could bring people from Britain or from Ireland – they are the two places we can get the best palliative care people – who are willing to come and do palliative care in Dubbo,” Dr Mcmaster said.
“Palliative care only became a specialty for doctors here in 1998. It really didn’t reach Australia until the ‘70s. I actually went to England and studied what they were doing in Britain and brought that back to Sydney, and it took from the ‘70s to the late ‘90s until doctors could become specialists.”
Asked how palliative care patients in Dubbo are being cared for at the moment, Dr Mcmaster ` said: “The local doctors try to manage, the GPS and specialists, but also what we do have is a fly-in fly-out doctor who comes (to Dubbo) once a month from one of the big city hospitals.
“That is a marvellous help. They meet with the wonderful palliative care nurses to see the patients who need to be seen and talk to the GPS and specialists,” she added.
Dr Mcmaster also believes the federal Coalition’s weekend victory is good news for palliative care in Dubbo.
“One of the Coalition’s promises for the election was 100 additional palliative care nurses for the state, of which two thirds were for rural areas,” she said.
“That means Dubbo should definitely be getting the funding for an additional palliative care nurse and that is a huge help.”
With this week marking National Palliative Care Week (May 19-25), Dr Mcmaster stressed that palliative care isn’t just about death.
“Palliative care isn’t just about dying. It’s very holistic and it’s really about making life easier for people,” she said.
“Palliative care comes from the word palliate, which means to relieve, and palliative care doesn’t a
try to necessarily
cure a condition; it tries to relieve the symptoms of conditions.”
Dr Mcmaster also explained that palliative care is usually delivered to patients by a team of experts which may include a doctor, nurse, social worker, physiotherapy and occupational therapist.
It can also extend to family members in the way of bereavement services following the death of a loved one.
Palliative care isn’t just about dying. It’s very holistic and it’s really about making life easier for people...