By Denise Sharon Cahill, Western Suburbs Weekly
BETHESDA Hospital in Claremont has been chosen by the State Government to pilot a Palliative Ambulatory Service for the north metropolitan area.
Launched yesterday, by Premier Colin Barnett, the service involves a team consisting of a nurse specialist, palliative care doctor specialist and social worker who will visit palliative care patients in nursing homes, secondary hospitals such as Osborne Park and Joondalup and correctional facilities.
Bethesda clinical nurse manager Glenys Thomas said the team, which would include some staff from Bethesda and specially employed nurse and doctor specialists, would consult staff at the facilities and help them develop a palliative care program for people.
“We are not there to take over the care, just to give advice, education and support,” Ms Thomas said.
“It means people can remain in their own environment and can avoid emergency rooms.
“A little bit of palliative care can make a huge difference to people’s quality of life.”
Ms Thomas said the service would reach people who otherwise had restricted access to palliative care.
She said Perth already had services such as Silver Chain that visited people in their homes and hospitals like Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and Royal Perth Hospital offered palliative care to patients on wards, but the new service would fill a niche.
The Health Department is funding the two-year pilot program.