George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge National Palliative Care Week, which is being marked around the country this week. The week focuses on both residential and community aged care, and this year's theme is 'You matter, your care matters. Palliative care can make a difference.' The week highlights the fact that people in aged-care often have more than one chronic illness that affects their health in different ways. Specialised palliative care can help manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life. However, specialised palliative care is not always available in all aged-care facilities, and patients who are not in aged-care facilities sometimes prefer to spend their final days in the familiar surroundings of their own home.

Just last month we saw the Primary Health Network in Mackay rally to help a bloke that I knew quite well, Clinton Lowe, a young fellow who had brain cancer. The Mackay Hospital Foundation chair, Michael Jones, worked with Ryan and Sonia from the Primary Health Network to facilitate a high level of care, with a hospital bed and medical supplies, in Clinton's home. I would like to make special mention of Pam Hosking, a palliative care nurse navigator from Mackay Hospital and Health Service, who made that rapid response possible.

Across North Queensland there are dedicated specialists and groups who provide that care at a time when it is needed the most. Ozcare, Blue Care and CQ Community & In-Home Care work in conjunction with clinical nurses and hospitals and also with dedicated palliative care facilities such as the eight-bed palliative care ward at the Mater hospital in Mackay.

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