Palliative care unit at Westmead Hospital to reopen

The doctor spearheading a campaign to reopen the palliative care ward at Australia's largest hospital has welcomed moves to bring it back - 12 years after it was closed down.

More than a decade after it was closed down, the palliative care unit at Westmead Hospital could soon reopen following a passionate campaign from the western Sydney community.

Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) chief executive officer, Graeme Loy, reversed a decision not to have a palliative care unit at Westmead at the hospital’s medical staff council meeting after Health Minister Brad Hazzard ordered WSLHD to investigate the possibility of reopening a stand-alone ward.

The decision comes after the dedicated ward was overlooked in the State Budget, which allocated a $56 million funding boost to palliative care services in NSW but not Westmead.

Retired physician Dr Philip Lee, who was the Westmead Hospital palliative care service director for 10 years up until its closure in 2009, said the health district’s previous views that Westmead did not warrant a dedicated unit for dying patients went “against international standards”.

“If you look at virtually every other teaching hospital interstate they have a dedicated palliative care unit and dedicated beds because it’s part of medicine, it’s part of life’s journey,’’ he said.

“To say a hospital as big, as good as Westmead Hospital is, doesn’t need a palliative care unit just demonstrates a lack of understanding about the whole spectrum of care that palliative care provides.’’

The Westmead Push for Palliative Care leader also welcomed the review for highlighting health needs in the region.

“It’s a really good thing to happen because it’s not just Westmead that’s been an issue in terms of being underfunded and under-resourced,’’ Dr Lee said.

Dr Philip Lee has welcomed news of the palliative care unit returning to Westmead but is still chasing answers about its future.

“The whole of western Sydney, when you compare it to virtually every other metropolitan LHD (local health district), has really struggled to get support from the executive and to get funding for the adequate resources so the review was really worthwhile.’’

The review continues but questions linger over the size of the ward and its budget.

In 2009, the eight-bed palliative care unit shifted to a seven-bed oncology ward. Dr Lee said the $1 billion hospital redevelopment meant several wards had been left vacant in the old building and could be re-established for palliative care.

“Ideally, it should be a stand alone, dedicated ward but even that hasn’t been announced where this potential ward could be, so there’s so many questions that remain unanswered,’’ he said.

Critically, the funding needs to be confirmed, a figure Dr Lee estimated to be $3 million.

Liverpool and Concord hospital’s palliative care wards each have 20 beds, yet Mt Druitt, which serves western Sydney’s palliative care demands, has just 16 beds.

Westmead won’t be the only hospital to see the return of the service that helps dying, terminally ill patients and supports their families.

The opening of the new acute services building at Westmead Hospital means sections of the older hospital building could be used for palliative care.

Ten palliative care beds each reopened at Gosford and Mona Vale hospitals after their upgrades.

NSW Health and Health Minister Brad Hazzard did not answer questions about the timeline of the palliative care ward or its budget allocation for Westmead but a Western Sydney Local Health District spokesman said: “Our priority is to ensure the people of western Sydney have access to health services which work for them now, and in the future.

“It would therefore be premature to comment on future service provision while our palliative care services review is ongoing.”

While the review continues, Dr Lee believes the euthanasia debate is also drawing attention to palliative care.

“When debates start about euthanasia and voluntary assisted dying at the same time, people ask questions about whether the palliative care services that are available are adequate to meet patients’ symptom needs because the two are so much interlinked,’’ he said.

“The palliative care community, in general, doesn’t support the voluntary assisted dying legislation because the concern is, if the focus is just on that, palliative care may get neglected and a lot of patients will suffer a lot more.

The NSW voluntary assisted dying bill has been pushed back to 2022.

WSLHD previously defended its hospitals’ services for dying patients, with specialist clinicians to support those requiring care in hospital.

The health service has also partnered with palliative care provider Silver Chain to deliver free, in-home care for more than 2500 dying patients since July 2017.

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