Presented to Parliamentary Friends of End of Life Group, Wednesday 15 August
People who are referred to palliative care early tend to live longer and die better. One submission to a Victorian parliamentary committee said: “Palliative care gave [my sister] an extraordinary good final period of her life in which all members of her family were able to spend quality time with her until she eventually died. We look back on that time with much gratitude for the skills and dedication of the palliative care team in making this possible. Thanks to their efforts my sister’s death was indeed a ‘good death’ and one that was accompanied with great dignity.” In this presentation, Grattan Institute’s Health Program Director Stephen Duckett calls for palliative care funding to be redesigned so more people can get high-quality care, and more patients can have a say in where they die.