I note from the outset that I offer these words on behalf of one of my local constituents whose mother recently passed away from cancer of the pancreas. Rae wanted to die at home, not in a hospital, neither public nor private. She just wanted to die at home. She had family members who were going to ensure that her final wishes were going to be met. Rae came home from hospital on 25 March 2021 and died on 5 May 2021, in her own home. This was done with the assistance of Cessnock District Health Palliative Care Service, which was amazing, and for 3½ weeks of the nearly six weeks by Silver Chain palliative care, which provided the personal care specifically needed by an end‑of‑life patient.
Every palliative care staff member who attended Rae’s home was professional, caring, empathetic and compassionate. Nothing was too much trouble, no question went unanswered and no contact was ignored, be it day or night. For Rae or any of her family members their presence and inquiries were welcome. Silver Chain palliative care service will cease to exist in the Hunter in just a few weeks: on 1 July 2021. This wonderful organisation, which provides world‑class services, will no longer be plying its trade in the Hunter. Obviously the decision‑makers who chose to fail to fund this service in the future have never had someone they love need this service; if they had, this travesty never would have happened.
There is a huge difference between palliative personal care needs, and home care and support services personal care. They are two different beasts. Rae experienced both in the last 41 days of her life after being discharged from hospital to go home to die in her own home as per her wishes. Both services have wonderful caring staff but the patient needs are so very different when the patient is at end of life and requires specialised palliative care. Silver Chain staff worked with palliative care staff. They contacted them to discuss Rae’s treatment and to let them know their observations and of any changes they had observed. Silver Chain staff too were professional, caring, empathetic and compassionate. That was not only so that Rae could be comfortable but also so that her husband of 63 years, her children and her grandchildren, who were providing her with care, could be welcomed, warmed and comforted during this time.
Silver Chain’s care provided Rae with dignity, gentleness, humour, honesty and safety in her dying days, for which her family will be forever grateful. “The loss of the Silver Chain service to our Hunter community is immeasurable,” my constituent writes, “for anyone who is unfortunate enough to contract a terminal illness and wants to die in their home.” The experienced palliative staff of Silver Chain will be lost or underutilised if they are not used solely in this specialised field of palliative care. We would not ask a general practitioner to perform a heart operation or an optometrist to perform a hip replacement, so why do decision‑makers consider it acceptable to let specialist palliative care services cease to ply their specialised trade?
There are not enough accolades for the care and support provided by both Cessnock District Health Palliative Care Service and Silver Chain palliative care for Rae and her family. The loss of Silver Chain will be felt by many families in our community for years to come. Decision‑makers should look at all aspects of their decisions, not just the bottom line. I can only hope that they do not have to make the choice that it is preferable to die in a hospital because there are insufficient services available for them to remain at home if that is their dying wish. I offer these words on behalf of my constituents.