Palliative care funding cut by $150 million, while assisted dying gets $97 million extra

The government has secretly taken its razor to palliative care funding, while injecting some of that money into assisted dying. Palliative care advocates have criticised the move. Read what they said.

The Minns government has secretly slashed $150 million in palliative care funding in a move which threatens to increase the suffering of terminally ill patients and their families.

At the same time as cutting palliative care funding, the Minns government has committed more than $97 million of new money to implement Voluntary Assisted Dying laws – which come into force from November.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that the government has covertly cut money that was supposed to pay for things like palliative care nurses, pain management drugs and better end-of-life services.

Palliative care advocates say the cuts will force more people to die at home without specialist help, leading to increased suffering.

The money has been reallocated within NSW Health’s budget – which includes $97.4 million over four years to implement Voluntary Assisted Dying laws.

Health Minister Ryan Park has cut $150 million from palliative care funding. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Former Premier Dominic Perrottet pledged to fix end-of-life care by committing an extra $743 million in funding.

Now some of that funding has been removed.

The Telegraph understands that NSW Health put forward the cuts as part of cabinet’s expenditure review process; health bureaucrats are understood to have consistently opposed spending money on palliative care.

Former Premier Dominic Perrottet increased palliative care funding by $743 million last year to come good on a pledge to fix end-of-life care. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Deputy Nationals Leader Bronnie Taylor — who was a palliative care specialist while working as a nurse — said that with Voluntary Assisted Dying about to become legal, there has “never been a more important time” to invest in end-of-life care.

“People (need) to have all choices and all options available to them at the highest standard,” she said.

Palliative care advocate Natasha Walsh, whose husband Derek died of brain cancer in 2019, said the cuts would only increase suffering for families in the midst of trauma.

“It’s already immensely painful when someone dies and you know, particularly when they’re young,” she said.

“If the money is being pulled back, then that means less time at either rehab boards or time with service providers to get assistance.

Natasha Walsh and her husband Dere, who died of brain cancer in 2019. Pictured in 2018, halfway through his palliative care journey. Picture: Milk & Honey Photography / Supplied

“It makes a huge difference on someone who’s already facing a terminal diagnosis,” she said.

Ms Walsh said palliative care should be a feature of terminally ill patients’ treatment “as soon as that terminal diagnosis is learned”.

Ms Walsh runs a palliative care charity, Derek’s Place, supporting families with a terminally ill parent.

A NSW Government spokesman blamed the former government for the cuts, saying the Coalition increased funding “without clearly outlining how this would be spent”.

“After the deteriorating fiscal conditions left by the Liberals, we were confronted with near-impossible decisions, including finding ways to save over 1000 nurses in our public hospitals,” he said.

The spokesman said funding for palliative care would continue to increase each year – while refusing to acknowledge that funding would have been greater under the Coalition.