Qld gov responds to Little Haven funding crisis

The Qld government has thrown Gympie’s Little Haven Palliative Care a crumb of hope after details of its funding crisis were revealed, promising to review the way it calculates its funding.

After a week of highlighting the importance of Little Haven’s contribution not just to the community, but as a sustainable model of end-of-life community care to regional Queensland, the Qld government has agreed to conduct a review of the funding arrangements to organisations like Little Haven.

The organisation is funded through a combination of government grants, contracts and fundraising, but this year the contract offered by the state government was significantly below what was expected and required.

The agreed changes from the review would take affect from 2024-25, with a one-year contract on the table for Little Haven to ensure “continuity of care while this funding review is carried out,” a Qld government spokesperson said.

Little Haven Palliative Care, Gympie. Sue Manton is the Little Haven business manager. Photo Greg Miller / Gympie Times

Whether this is a promise that ends in realistic advice on how to ensure the needs of the region are met, or advice on how to make the most of the funding given, remains to be seen.

“I still think it was within the capacity of Health Minister Shannon Fentiman to approve funding without having to make the community carry the burden this year,” Little Haven business manager Sue Manton said.

“Why would they offer us a stagnant contract that really doesn't meet what’s needed, and doesn’t allow for any growth when we know the population is going to grow.”

In 2022, Gympie saw a population growth of 2.44 per cent, more than 1 per cent above its growth in 2021 and above the average growth of Southeast Queensland at 2.3 per cent, and far above the growth of regional Queensland at 1.88 per cent, according to Informed Decisions, an Australian local government consulting service.

Rowan Dyer looked after her lifelong friend, Yvonne Brown at their house in Glenwood. Thanks to Little Haven, Miss Brown had a beautiful end-of-life journey. Picture: Christine Schindler

Gympie LNP MP Tony Perrett said the promised review looks like a “rehash of the review I was advised of in 2018”.

This review suggested Little Haven “reduce the size of the area that it serviced, cap the number of patients, or only accept patients in the last three months of life,” he said.

Ms Manton said she “reluctantly signed” the contract with the review agreement, and could only be hopeful the review will encompass a more comprehensive understanding of the growth and needs of the population.

Little Haven is asking for continued government investment that matches the palliative care needs of the Gympie region.

But this is something, she said, Queensland Health should already know.

“We’ve given them 20 years of demonstrating. They have reports from every quarter on the number of occasions of service we’ve delivered, they know all of that,” Ms Manton said.

Not having government funding to match the growth of the community means dipping into reserves raised from the last 20 years for a hospice, she said.

It was this detailed strategy and future planning that had made Little Haven the success it was with the ability to respond to the needs of the community – plugging the gaps in at-home and end-of-life care for all who need it.

“We don't think that all the funds we generate through the hard work of our volunteers should go to funding a service that if we weren’t there, Queensland Health would have to be paying a lot more for,” she said.

That is, an extra 28,000 occasions of service a year and 110 palliative care patients at any given time the Gympie or Sunshine Coast University Hospitals would have to accommodate.

“There‘s no immediate threat to the closure of our service, but if we were to sign that four-year contract with Queensland Health, without any growth accounted for, there would have been $7 million debt at the end of it,” Ms Manton said.

A debt she refuses to expect the community to carry.

“We‘ve had years of being supported by our community, that’s why we can’t close our books,” Ms Manton said.

If you want to see more equitable state funding for Little Haven, write to Health Minister Shannon Fentiman outlining why this organisation is so important to the community and why its array of services need to be continued on a sustainable basis.

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