Proceedings of the RRIPM Round Table Workshop

The Rural and Remote Institute of Palliative Medicine (RRIPM) has released a draft of the proceedings of their Round Table Workshop held last month in Canberra. Participants included consumers and community advocates, clinicians and managers, college and peak body leaders, as well as state and federal government representatives.

Recommendations from the workshop will guide implementation of the next phase of the RRIPM project:

  1. Maintain independence, with clearly defined roles and expectations when working in partnership across participating organisations
  2. Advocate for the establishment of a tri-partite group [RACP, RACGP and ACRRM] to strengthen training alignment
  3. Launch a trial network across training ready locations
  4. Consider proposed actions relating to education and training, leadership and governance, capacity building and relationships for implementation in Year 1 to Year 3
  5. Seek guidance from the Office of the National Rural Health Commissioner, and other jurisdictional representatives to identify future funding sources

To receive regular updates on project progress please register your interest with the project team via email rripmproject@anzspm.org.au

Specialist Palliative Medicine Training in Rural Australia – A Scoping Review

The Rural and Remote Institute of Palliative Medicine (RRIPM) has released a draft of their scoping review into specialist palliative medicine training in rural Australia and are now inviting everyone interested in improving rural palliative medicine to provide feedback before 12th February 2024 by emailing the Project Manager at RRIPMproject@anzspm.org.au

#PalliCOVID #PallANZ tweetchat 23/3

#PalliCOVID #PallANZ

Please join us and other palliative care clinicians from across Australia and New Zealand on Monday 23/03/2020 for a tweetchat on the COVID-19 / novel Coronavirus pandemic.

When?

Who?

  • Palliative care clinicians, researchers, managers, policymakers, patients and carers
  • Interested / involved in helping our communities live, die and grieve well in the face of the life-threatening COVID-19 / novel Coronavirus pandemic
  • Living or working in Australia and New Zealand

How?

What?

  • Topic 1: Please share a story about your #COVID19 #Coronavirus experience so far – at work, at home and/or online
  • Topic 2: Have you come across any useful #COVID19 #Coronavirus resources that others might find helpful?
  • Topic 3: How can we look after ourselves and each other during the #COVID19 #Coronavirus pandemic?

We hope you can join us for a great discussion about this global public health challenge!

 

Putting the CAR-T before the horse?

Dr Benjamin Thomas’s excellent thread about economic justice for palliative care patients in the context of the announcement of a likely announcement regarding the Government funding around 200-250 patients for $500,000 each to receive CAR-T treatment.

He calculates what we could do for palliative care patients with the same money.

Worth a read! Thanks Ben @andiyarus

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1222006604289101824.html

 

 

Announcement re CAR-T funding

 

Palliative care and #ausvotes19

It’s election time again! Honestly, we have not had a new Prime Minister for ages in Australia. We sadly can’t have Jacinda Ardern, but there it is.
Dr Benjamin Thomas (@andiyarus)  has been tweeting up a storm putting pressure on the powers-that-be and the powers-that-wannabe in advocating for #palliativecare patients in the upcoming election. He visited the @Palliverse to answer a few questions for us. Continue reading

#COSA17: #PalliativeCare reflections on the 44th Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting

Circular Quay

Despite being a Melburnian, I must admit that Sydney really is an irresistibly beautiful city when the sun comes out, especially by the water. The 44th Clinical Oncology Society of Australia (COSA) Annual Scientific Meeting was held in the newly renovated International Convention Centre in Sydney between 12-15th November 2017. With the sunlight streaming in through its many windows, reflecting off the waters of Darling Harbour, it really was the perfect place to be at the beginning of summer.

I attended the pre-conference workshop on cancer supportive care, which was organised by Judith Lacey, a palliative medicine specialist at Chris O’Brien LIfehouse. The whole-day workshop featured an interesting mixture of passionate speakers promoting a range of complementary treatments including medicinal cannabis, massage and probiotics; alongside others examining the evidence base for acupuncture, reviewing current clinical trials and prescribing pathways, and comparing different funding models for supportive care. It was a long but worthwhile day that set the mood for the rest of the conference.  Continue reading

New Zealand wins (again)

I have to confess I am a fan of the New Zealand health system from across the ditch. Sensible spending. strong palliative care health service connections… am I wrong Bro?

This article has not succeeded in reversing my bias in favour of New Zealand.

Palliative data nerds will no doubt recall this  fascinating study in Scotland by Professor Clark et al.  Published in Palliative Medicine, and quickly attaining the journal’s highest-ever Altmetrics score (1) , Clark showed that among 10,743 inpatients in 25 Scottish teaching and general hospitals on 31 March 2010,  3,098 (28.8%) patients died during the one-year follow-up period. The findings were replicated in 2013 with similar results.

The study by the fabulous  Professor  Merryn Gott et al showed that on the same date, the corresponding figure in New Zealand (including obstetrics) was about half at 14.5%. Patients at higher risk of dying were the elderly of over 80 years of age, Maori, those with cancer, those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, and those admitted under medical specialties rather than surgical.

New Zealand seems to provide better end of life care outside the hospital setting, with stronger end-of-life care in the aged care setting. This has certainly been a focus for service development in Australia as well.

How would we rate in Australia I wonder?

I would love to hear from international colleagues

Ref (1)  https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/endoflifestudies/projects/imminence/

Sonia

An open letter to Victorians on #PalliativeCare #VAD #euthanasia

Screen Shot 2017-10-17 at 13.09.16

PC clinician open letter Final

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day 2017 – a global call for Universal Health Coverage and Palliative Care

Author: Kate Jackson, WHPCA

On 14 October, over 200 organisations around the world will raise their voices to celebrate World Hospice and Palliative Care Day and Voices for Hospices 2017.

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is a unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world. Voices for Hospices is a wave of concerts taking place on World Hospice and Palliative Care Day every two years.

The theme of this year’s World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is: Universal Health Coverage and Palliative Care: Don’t leave those suffering behind!

Continue reading

Stop the horror(ible misrepresentation)

800px-Pinocchio_3ak

[Image by André Koehne via Wikimedia Commons]

This short film released this week tells an awful story of a man and his family that is apparently based on true events. It is clear from the film that the man did NOT receive the best palliative care currently available.

The film concludes with a statement that people like the man depicted die in awful ways “[d]espite the best available palliative care”. This statement is at odds with the film, which depicts him NOT receiving “the best available palliative care”.

Why did the poor man NOT receive “the best available palliative care”? The film does not tell us why. The statement at the conclusion of the film does not tell us why. We are left to wonder why this poor man and his family did NOT receive “the best available palliative care” for their suffering.

This film is a powerful depiction of the suffering experienced by patients and their families when they do NOT receive “the best available palliative care”. This film about suffering and suboptimal palliative care should lead us to demand better access to “the best available palliative care” from our politicians.

You can watch the R-rated (suitable for persons aged 18 years and over) film here.