Save Little Haven: GP describes Little Haven’s need

As we continue our campaign to Save Little Haven, a respected local doctor has outlined the vital importance of sustainable, community-based palliative care in regional Queensland.

Having a sustainable community-based palliative care in regional Queensland like Little Haven is the ‘glue’ that binds the patients, doctors, and specialists together, regional GP Marian Campbell says. Picture: Christine Schindler

A Queensland general practitioner has thrown her support behind the gold standard of home-care services Gympie’s Little Haven provides, saying the organisation is the “glue” that fill the gaps in palliative care for the region.

The Gympie Times and News Corp has rolled out a series of articles on the importance of regional palliative home care after it was revealed Little Haven faced a massive shortfall in funding from the state government.

After working for more than 15 years in the Gympie region, Dr Marian Campbell has seen first-hand the necessity of the home-care in regional Queensland.

She describes Little Haven as the “glue that binds the GPs, the palliative care teams and oncology teams together to support patients and their families”.

“Everyone deserves a good death, and if they want to do it at home, we owe it to them to try,” Dr Campbell said.

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

Her concerns about Little Haven not being able to keep up with the region’s needs means her dying patients who choose to live at home will need to find better pain symptom control.

“They’re going to have to be forced into cars or into ambulances and transferred into busy emergency departments for that kind of treatment,” she said.

Not only would these services be cut, but a sudden, and what so far has been avoidable, load of people would appear at the doors of the hospital.

Having a sustainable community-based palliative care in regional Queensland like Little Haven is the ’glue’ that binds the patients, doctors, and specialists together, regional GP Marian Campbell says. Picture: Christine Schindler

“I don’t really think there’s an adequate hospital based system to counteract that,” Dr Campbell said.

Two of the 89-beds in the Gympie Hospital are palliative care beds and the hospital has emergency, surgical and medical services, palliative care and rehabilitation, maternity services and renal dialysis.

The hospital has 64 doctors and 27 specialist staff.

If the equipment or treatment needed is not available at the Gympie Hospital, the next option is to travel 100km or more down to the 718-bed Sunshine Coast University Hospital in Birtinya.

Little Haven business manager Sue Manton is calling on the state government to invest in the palliative health care of the Gympie region, and offer them a contract that is in line with the growing needs of the area.

Little Haven provided 28,000 occasions of service last year alone and projects that figure to rise with the population of the region.

New data from the Queensland government shows that in the next 25 years, south east Queensland will grow by 2.2 million with an increasingly ageing population over 65.

The population in Gympie region is already seeing an above average growth compared to the rest of the Queensland.

“The Gympie Hospital is doing an outstanding job trying to trying to cope with the demands but it’s not going to be enough if we lose this community-based palliative care,” Dr Campbell said.

Another concern Dr Campbell brought up was the terminally-ill patients under 65 who do not qualify for a community nursing package or the NDIS.

After being given terminal illness diagnosis for two months to two years, Yvonne Brown was able to spend her last months at her beloved Glenwood home, thanks to the 24/7 palliative care services of Little Haven. Picture: (supplied)

“I’m uncertain where the gap is going to be filled, we don’t have nearby hospice care here,” she said.

Little Haven also goes and checks on the elderly who might have heart failure, for example, but are still at home supported by family because it is where they want to stay to die.

“It’s the very elderly, who might need that little bit of support at home when it’s coming their time,” she said.

“It’s not just what the patient has to face, but the families as well with the loss and bereavement support which comes before their family member passes.

“Kids that have lost parents that have been well supported by Little Haven – I’d hate to see that aspect of palliative care cut.”

It has already been six years since Dr Campbell closed her books and she said she’d hate to see Little Haven have to do the same thing.

“I think we’re just so lucky to have a community-based palliative care team, none of us know when we or our family members might need that kind of care,” Dr Campbell said.