Mr NORTHE (Morwell) (12:29): My question is directed to the Minister for Health. Minister, the Latrobe health advocate, appointed by the government and located in the Latrobe Valley, is required as part of her remit to ensure local health issues are raised with and responded to by the state government. In July 2019 the health advocate in her report, Improving End of Life and Palliative Care Services in Latrobe, recommended that a hospice be built in our region. Since that time we have also had hundreds and hundreds of locals sign petitions demonstrating their support. In the health advocate’s most recent report, the September 2021 progress report, the advocate said, and I quote:
The Advocate is now calling on the Victorian Government to act within the 2021-22 financial year to formally consider the establishment of a hospice, dedicated palliative care unit or other suitable options for communities in Latrobe, as described in her original recommendation.
Minister, will the state government do as the health advocate and a large cohort of our community are requesting, and that is to build a dedicated hospice in our region?
Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (12:30): Can I thank the honourable member for Morwell for his question, and in doing so can I thank the Latrobe health advocate, a position created with some foresight by my predecessor in this portfolio, the member for Altona, in how she went about that important work. The health advocate does a great job in the Latrobe Valley to make sure that a community that has disproportionately poorer health outcomes has the issues as to the social determinants of health reflected in the activities, whether it is in the primary healthcare sector or the acute healthcare sector, and those arrangements being promoted.
One of the issues that the health advocate that the honourable member touches on goes to the issue of palliative care. Palliative care is an incredibly important part of the rich mix of services that our health system delivers at a time of end of life when compassion and support is most needed. How palliative care is being delivered is changing quite dramatically across our community. It is changing because this government is serious about how it supports palliative care through a range of measures. That is why we are investing $170 million as we speak in both hospital and home care support in how the patterns of palliative care are changing. There is a wider variety of choices that communities and individuals want to make, be they culturally determined, be they in a hospital setting, be they in a hospice setting or in a home setting increasingly. These are important issues. The honourable member talks about a petition, and I do note that the honourable member has closed his petition on his website over this very issue. I look forward to receiving the responses from that community.
That is why we have engaged with Latrobe hospital—to make sure that this important piece of work is done. I do note that Latrobe hospital has taken some steps already to incorporate palliative care into its operations, but equally I also note that whether it be the community health centres or the primary healthcare networks in that part of Victoria, they are all looking to how different options of palliative care and support for families at a very challenging time can be delivered in an appropriate set of circumstances. Of course the Latrobe health advocate and any petition that the Latrobe community wants to share with the government will be considered as part of our budgetary process. But rest assured, local member and his community, and indeed all Victorians, this government is serious about providing a wide range of options and support in what is a challenging part of any medical community’s and the broader community’s challenge of services, of which palliative care is one. I thank the member for his question.
Mr NORTHE (Morwell) (12:33): Minister, you may be aware that in the township of Churchill the former Hazelwood House, a 38-bed aged-care facility, now sits vacant. The aged-care facility was initially funded and built by members of the Churchill community, and they are keen to see the facility utilised for health-related purposes. Many, including me, believe this would be an ideal setting for a dedicated hospice. We have a generous local developer who is willing to purchase the facility for the purposes of a hospice, and the site sits adjacent to Federation University, where specialist palliative care nurse training could be undertaken. Minister, will the state government at least explore repurposing Hazelwood House in Churchill as a dedicated hospice facility in the Latrobe Valley?
Mr FOLEY (Albert Park—Minister for Health, Minister for Ambulance Services, Minister for Equality) (12:34): I thank the member for Morwell for his subsequent question, and indeed my advice is that the honourable member raised this with my predecessors in the portfolio, specifically about the facility he refers to in his local community. Of course as part of the Latrobe health advocate’s work and of course as part of the wider community, indeed I think the local government area that the honourable member represents have raised this particular matter. Of course we will consider any proposal on merit, including the one the honourable member refers to. That does not of course guarantee us outcomes, but I can give the honourable member the undertaking that he requests—that the government will consider any proposal on its merits.
