By Jamie Salter
Victorian Liberal Leader Matthew Guy has announced a $2 million commitment to help fund a new facility for Palliative Care South East (PCSE) in Narre Warren.
The investment will mean better services through the construction of a wellness centre, which will help keep 144 cancer patients from requiring acute hospital care.
Funds for the new facility have so far been raised fully by PCSE through savings, bequests and fundraising.
PCSE chief executive officer Kelly Rogerson said palliative care was a vital service that should not be funded by “turning sausages”.
“In 2018, we were advised our current facility would no longer be available to us and we identified Narre Warren as a key spot for us to be,” she said.
“We’ve been able to fund over 63 per cent of this building…we’re calling on the State Government to finish it off.”
She said community facing areas including counselling rooms, clinic rooms, and community and volunteer spaces were vital to meeting an increase in demand for services.
“In the last two years we’ve seen a 63 per cent increase in the number of admissions we’ve had and at any given time we’re caring for over 400 people in the community – that’s enough people to fill the Royal Children’s Hospital,” she said.
Victorian Liberal Leader Matthew Guy said the project was essential to ensuring the healthcare system could deliver the services Victorians deserve.
“PCSE has outgrown its current location and requires a larger facility to ensure it can continue to provide the highest standard of care,” he said.
“Acute hospital care can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, this investment will keep patients out of hospital, in comfortable care and closer to family.
“We can’t stop investing in services like palliative care, that’s why this facility is so important.”
Member for Gembrook Brad Battin said there has been a major increase in the uptake of people using palliative care in the south-east.
“We’re very proud to support palliative care,” Mr Battin said.
“Most people in the community don’t understand everything palliative care does, but it’s those home visits, it’s being with people at the time they most need it and supporting families as they’re going through something so tragic as losing someone over a period of time.
“We’re announcing an extra $2 million to ensure they can run all their services and have everything operational here in Narre Warren, so that people from the south east who need their services most have access to it when they need it.”
Melbourne’s outer south east is one of the fastest growing population corridors in the state with more than 650,000 people already living within South East Palliative Care’s service area.
Expected growth is between 50 to 80 per cent over the next two decades.
