The state government has now agreed to hold a roundtable on palliative care in NEWCASTLE following a concerted push by the opposition.
It comes after state member for Newcastle Tim Crakanthorp slammed the government for leaving the city out of such an important conversation.
"Its a huge issue for everyone and every family in the country in fact because everyone will die but people want to choose where they can die if they can and they don't want to die in the back of an ambulance or in the hospital where they can't necessarily be surrounded by their loved ones," said Tim Crakanthorp.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald announced late yesterday that the roundtable will be held next month and headed by Parliamentary Secretary for Regional and Rural Health Leslie Williams.
Leslie Williams says every health district has its own needs and challenges and with 50,000 people already dying in NSW each year, something needs to be done with the figure expected to double by 2056.Scot MacDonald is urging for the politics to be taken out of palliative care, "it is a difficult subject there's no question about it but the roundtable will come in early June. We'll look at what are we doing now, have we got the right resources, have we got palliative care where we need it, all those sorts of things. Everything should be on the table".
Roundtables are also scheduled for Lismore, Kempsey, Broken Hill, Tamworth, Griffith, Queanbeyan and Kiama.
The date and venue will be confirmed for the Newcastle roundtable later this month.
