Funding boost for hospices

Waipuna Hospice is welcoming a boost in funding as part of an extra $20million a year Government investment to provide more hospice palliative care services in New Zealand.

Toady's Government announcement will see $13m go to the country's 29 hospices to expand their community palliative care services and another $7m to create 60 new palliative care nurse specialist and educator roles.

Waipuna Hospice will recieve a funding boost from the Government.

Two hospices in the Bay of Plenty region – Waipuna Hospice and Hospice Eastern Bay of Plenty – are seet to receive a combined $1m boost.

Waipuna Hospice CEO Richard Thurlow says while not knowing exactly how much Waipuna Hospice will receive, he particularly thinks the $7m investment in 60 new palliative care nurse specialist and educator roles is beneficial.

The nurses are to provide training, mentoring and hands-on support for staff across aged residential care, GP practices and home-based support services.

'I really do think the strategy to support education within aged residential care sector – around end of life care and the elderly – is really important and it's one thing strategically Waipuna has been looking at over the last three-four years.

'And we have been some of it, but to have some targeted funding towards it would be excellent.”

Richard says he also hopes to see Waipuna's new building project – to create a day service wing to expand its day service patients – will receive some credit too.

'Knowing how funding works there will be some linked to special areas of service.

'We're just building a day service wing to expand our day service patients – and I would hope some recognition in there would be for that work, which is a way to manage the ever-increasing patient numbers we've been managing.”

Richard says in the last five years Waipuna Hospice has seen a 120 per cent increase in patient-load at any one time.

'So we've gone from about 130 patients to nearly 290 patients at any one time – so we're much busier than we've ever been.

'We haven't increased in the last year hugely, we're running really efficiency – but with efficiency comes stretching, so this will be real boost in the arm for us.”

National's Health spokesman Tony Ryall, who announced the funding at Nelson Tasman Hospice with Prime Minister John Key and Nelson MP Nick Smith, says in 2013 more than 15,000 people received care and support from NZ hospice services and hospice staff made more than 145,000 visits to people in their homes.

'Just over 20 per cent of people using hospice services were aged under 60 and three-quarters had a cancer related disease,” says Tony.

'As our population ages, more and more people will need palliative care.”

Tony says the extra $20 million of funding each year from July 2015 is in addition to the extra $15 million a year from the Boost Hospice Care funding initiative, announced in 2009.

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