Today I want to offer some comments on an issue which is very dear to my heart.  Hopefully, by now anyone who has been following my career will know that my passions are education, family, health, community and economic well-being for all.

Most, if not all, people reading this blog right now are not in the position of having to worry about dying. 

But I’ve been aware of the issue for a long time and it’s certainly worried me.  Besides, I’ve had people contact me to impress on me their strong feelings after having lost someone they love and being concerned that palliative care services should always be available to people.

Let me say:  palliative care is one of those real measures of how concerned we as a community are for those in need.

Philip Oakden House was a hospice where people in the final stages of terminal illness received palliative care in a loving, peaceful and homelike environment.  It specialised in the relief of pain and suffering.  The hospice gave patients a private room and views of a rose garden created by local Rotarians.  It was built with funds provided by the Northern community and entrusted to OneCare…

Like so many other community representatives, I jumped aboard the band wagon to stand up for Philip Oakden House in early 2007 when it was threatened with closure due to funding issues and, frankly, a very sad lack of enthusiasm on the part of OneCare to continue running the service (which included three public beds) on behalf of the Tasmanian Government.  Consequently, another provider, Calvary Health Care stepped in and has begun providing those three publicly funded beds at St Lukes Campus.

However – unlike most of those same pollies, I stayed on the wagon long after the issue left the front pages of the newspaper.  I joined the action committee and have served on that committee ever since.

• NOTE:  While her response in recent times has been disappointing, I do not criticise Health Minister Lara Giddings for her handling of the funding issue at that time…. she did at least try to jolly along OneCare with extra money but they were determined to close the facility.

After more than two years of brainstorming, community activity, developing a funding submission and lobbying, the group I am part of has finally made real progress.  In short, Northern Tasmania is under-served by the current offering.  Southern Tasmania, with a similar population to us has funding for 10 beds.  We have just three and those are overstretched, meaning that quite a few people who would make use of the service are dying in less-than-ideal surroundings, ie hospital medical wards.

In April this year, I contacted Tasmanian Liberal Leader Will Hodgman and Health Spokesman Brett Whiteley, along with local state members Sue Napier and Peter Gutwein to really push this issue along.  I’m really grateful for their strongly supportive attitude.

Some of the best words I’ve heard from a long time, came from Will and Brett today:

The Tasmanian Liberals committed today to funding an additional four palliative care beds in Northern Tasmania, if elected to Government in March 2010.

Opposition Leader, Will Hodgman, said the Liberals supported the right of the terminally ill and their families to have choice in end of life care, through the delivery of palliative care in a range of settings from the hospital to the home.  Read more….

This, within 30 days of the election of a new Liberal Government in Tasmania, will mean that we will go from just three publicly funded palliative care beds in the North to seven.  That’s great news, and I’m so proud of this and the role I’ve been able to play.  Labor have had the funding submission for much longer than the Liberals but still no action from them.

Apart from the fact that better meeting the needs of the community is fantastic; there is a great side benefit that these additional services will free up four more beds in our overstretched Launceston General Hospital.  This better allocation of resources will assist our LGH in providing the services our community needs and deserves.

It’s about leadership, vision and energy for Tasmania’s future.

Positive politics.

Michael Ferguson.

Read the full policy here.

Michael Ferguson, Will Hodgman and Brett Whiteley together with representatives of Northern Hospice and Palliative Care Association