The hardest thing we have ever done - Palliative Care Australia

It is worth noting that the Australian Government has recently made steps in the right
direction in several of these areas of unmet need. A total of $201.2 million was made
available throughout the five years of the Australian Health Care Agreement for palliative
care (2003-08). A further $55 million was committed to support national activities through
the National Palliative Care Program. Initiatives included: access to palliative care
medications in the community; assistance for families and increased support to other care
networks through the Caring Communities Program; increased resources to carer respite
centres to provide respite for carers; carer focused palliative care information and education
initiatives, ie production of fact sheets; palliative care equipment program ie grants to
purchase equipment for loan to families and carers; a national palliative care education
program in residential aged care facilities; palliative care volunteers and initiatives to benefit
rural areas and indigenous communities.
These initiatives will be evaluated in due course. Hopefully those initiatives which the
evidence suggests are successful will be replicated on a wider scale to reach and benefit
carers across the country.
The last issue causing angst to carers is employment. Government leadership is required in
developing policy that encourages employers to allow some flexibility around balancing
caring responsibilities with the need to earn an income. A recent conference on carers and
employment (Carers UK, 2004) has urged that “a discussion of the converging factors that
serve to make the need for, and the needs of, carers as a labour force, and the skills gap in
the workforce, is particularly pressing”. The conference highlighted the following workforce
projection in the UK, which should give food for thought for Australian policy-makers:
An estimated 2.5 million extra people will be needed in the UK workforce within the next 8
years but less than a quarter of these places will be filled by school and college leavers.
Meanwhile, more than sixty percent of people will fulfill a role caring for sick or disabled
relatives, either full or part-time, which will impact on their ability to work. Helping people to
combine their caring and work responsibilities, therefore has the potential both to help fill a
gap in the future workforce and prevent carers from becoming excluded from the workforce or
trapped in low paid and inflexible jobs.
In conclusion, there is compelling evidence to indicate that the work of carers is undervalued
and marginalised in the Australian community. The national inquiry in its two parts, the
literature review and the analysis of public submissions, reinforce the importance that policy
responses and resources be focused urgently on this area of service to help carers perform a
vital and important role into the future, particularly as carers are increasingly replacing
skilled health workers in the delivery of unfamiliar complex care for people with
terminal illness.
62 THE HARDEST THING WE HAVE EVER DONE: The Social Impact of Caring for Terminally Ill People in Australia, 2004