Shadow Health Minister, Ryan Park, visited the Central Coast last week to show support for a dedicated palliative care unit at Wyong Hospital.
He and Shadow Minister for Central Coast, Wyong MP David Harris met with representatives of Elsie’s Retreat, an organisation leading the campaign for the palliative care unit to serve residents of the northern Central Coast.
Harris said Gosford Hospital had received recurrent funding for a unit which was in high demand.
“It is essential a similar unit is established at Wyong Hospital to provide end of life options for people living in the northern Central Coast with its increasing population,” he said.
“In the last Budget the Premier promised $743M over five years towards palliative care and the Central Coast should be getting a fair share of that funding.
“There is a strong case for a facility at Wyong Hospital as the population of the northern Central Coast is growing, and these important services should be provided close to home and family.
“People should have availability of end of life choices – palliative care is an important part of that equation and it shouldn’t matter where you live, access to services is vital.
“Our community of over 300,000 people should have access to a mix of end-of-life options such as inpatient and outpatient (community) palliative care.
“NSW Labor has been lobbying for these additional services since 2015, from both our State and Federal Members, the money has been committed by the government and we must receive a share of that funding,” Harris said.
His push for the government to fund a palliative care unit at Wyong Hospital is supported by other Labor MPs Yasmin Catley in Swansea and David Mehan in The Entrance electorates.
Elsie’s Retreat and local Lions Clubs funded the fit out of the unit and have committed to ongoing support of the facility including the need to train specialised Palliative Care Nurses through future scholarships.
The NSW Opposition is calling on the government to ensure that recurrent funding is made available to support a Palliative care ward at Wyong.
Shadow Health Minister, Ryan Park, also met with health services and allied health workers from Wyong Hospital.
He made an undertaking to write to the Minister for Health to convey staff concerns about proposed cuts to staffing in several key departments at Wyong Hospital.
“Our growing area needs more staff and services, not cuts to full time positions,” he said.
Source:
Media release, August 23
Shadow Minister Central Coast, Wyong MP David Harris