Ms CLANCY (Elder) (11:32): I also would really like to thank the member for Mount Gambier for bringing this incredibly important motion to the chamber. I know I have spoken in this place before about previously having worked for Minister Mark Butler. He is now the federal Minister for Health, but back when I worked for him he was the minister for ageing. The time I spent with him, meeting with different people working in palliative care across our country, was incredibly moving and challenging, and it really brought home the importance of people being able to die with dignity, die with choice and also being able to have really good services near them.

The Malinauskas Labor government is committed to delivering end-of-life care options across South Australia so that people can access the care they need and make choices for their care, no matter where they live. The government committed $5.1 million to recruit 10 new palliative care nurses in regional South Australia. That is part of our commitment to deliver 76 more nurses in areas of priority need. When we formed government, we took very strong advice that these new positions need to be based in regional South Australia: 9.3 FTE of these positions have been filled, with recruitment for the final part-time position now being finalised.

We are also partnering with the federal Albanese Labor government to launch a new palliative care pilot program in South Australia. Palliative care navigators will be employed to connect terminally ill patients with local palliative care services in both Adelaide and in South Australian regional centres, in a three-year $7.5 million pilot program. As well as palliative care navigators helping individual patients and their families, the pilot will invest in a user-friendly phone line, a dedicated website offering information around the clock, improved volunteer coordination and access to bereavement supports.

People with a terminal illness in regional South Australia will be able to contact palliative care navigators directly by phone. As a statewide service, palliative care navigators will have the capability to assess people's needs, either remotely or in person, and the expertise to link people to the supports they require, particularly in their local community.

We also partner with the federal government to jointly invest in improving the provision of palliative care for people in aged care. A total of 15 state-funded residential aged-care facilities are taking part in the regional hospice in the residential aged-care pilot across six regional local health networks, including Bordertown, Naracoorte and Millicent. That is delivering training and embedding palliative care practices as business as usual across these facilities.

Supporting people with choice in end-of-life care is an important component of access in regional South Australia. We continue to promote the use of advance care directives to raise community understanding of advance care planning, foster self-determination and establish innovative peer volunteer roles. Support is being provided to local councils through codesigned project workshops, resources, online training and volunteer roles. This work was developed with the Inner Southern Councils Advance Care Directive Collaboration and is now being rolled out in the Southern Fleurieu, Murray Mallee and Adelaide Hills regions.

Another end-of-life choice for South Australians is now voluntary assisted dying, with the commencement of those laws on 31 January this year. Of the 30 regional doctors who have registered to undertake the mandatory training, 16 have completed it and are eligible to deliver voluntary assisted dying in South Australia. Doctors from metropolitan Adelaide are also able to support regional patients, with supported travel and telehealth consultations where appropriate.

We have also established a statewide Care Navigator Service and dedicated regional liaison nurse for voluntary assisted dying for both the community and health professionals to seek support and advice on access to voluntary assisted dying in regional South Australia.

The Malinauskas Labor government has tasked the Health Performance Council of South Australia with undertaking an inquiry into the provision of palliative care services in the state. We have asked the Health Performance Council to provide recommendations for the most effective and efficient improvements that could be made to palliative care services in South Australia, and I expect this to also include recommendations for palliative care services in regional South Australia.

The Limestone Coast Local Health Network provides level 2 palliative care services to the Upper Limestone Coast and level 4 services to the Lower Limestone Coast. Level 4 services are available seven days a week in Mount Gambier. In the Upper Limestone Coast, care coordination is available five days a week through the specialist team in Mount Gambier or the community nursing team in Naracoorte.

The Limestone Coast Local Health Network palliative care team includes registered nurses, clinical nurses and a nurse practitioner as well as an occupational therapist, physiotherapist and social worker, with referrals to other services as required. There has been 0.5 FTE palliative care nurse funding provided to the health network under election commitments, which has been utilised to create a registered nurse level 3 palliative care role. This role has been recruited and is providing direct clinical care and assisting the local health network to provide an increased level of service in the upper Limestone Coast.

There are end-of-life-care packages available from the specialist palliative care team which can include after-hours care in the terminal stage on a case-by-case basis. These packages support community-based end-of-life care for individuals and their caregivers and families and are designed to provide end-of-life care to people with palliative care needs that require additional support outside of that already available from existing services.

Palliative care services are provided in the community, at acute hospitals and in aged care facilities within the Limestone Coast Local Health Network with trained staff and appropriate amenities for patients and families to ensure appropriate palliative and end-of-life care in the person's place of choice. The network has been undertaking extensive and inclusive service planning activities to guide the growth of clinical services across the region.

As part of these service planning activities, access to hospice care, whether at home, in hospital, in the community or in a dedicated facility will be considered as part of these activities, because access to a range of end-of-life choices is something we can all agree on.

I know that through my experience with loved ones in palliative care in Adelaide, it is obviously a really challenging time for everyone involved. I was really, really grateful to the staff at the Repat in 2009 for providing incredibly loving, compassionate and understanding support while my nanna was dying. They were just absolutely beautiful, and I am really, really appreciative of it.

I was actually just at the motor neurone disease event, which was put together by the member for Davenport and the member for Frome, and had the opportunity to speak with a doctor from the new palliative care facility at Flinders hospital, which is just over the border from my electorate and obviously something a lot of people in my community, when they do need to access palliative care services, go to.

I was really touched when he said that the nurses there just make people feel like they have been enveloped in this big hug as soon as they walk in there. The staff are just so incredible, and he said that the services for the patients are second to none.

My friend's mum, who I was also close with—and she was part of my book club—passed away at the Laurel Hospice in January. My friend said that for their family it was a really beautiful environment for them to spend their last few days with her. The opportunity to easily wheel her outside—which was not available at the previous facilities at the Repat, it was a bit challenging to get outside to the garden—meant they were able to take her out to watch the sunset and get that fresh air, and try to feel, for a moment, like they were not in a clinical environment. It was very special to them.

They had also heard of the tiny horse that is in that palliative care facility some days who, apparently, is dressed in little pink boots so she—or he, I am not sure—does not slip over; they also have a little pink poo bag for any accidents. The doctor I was speaking with today said he actually had a GP call him and say, 'I'm really worried about my patient; I called to see how they were doing and they were talking about how there was a tiny horse who had pink feet.' The GP was concerned that the patient was hallucinating, but the doctor from Laurel was able to say, 'No, we really do have a tiny horse who wears pink boots there.'

Those incredible services are available here in the city: we should also be able to have incredible services available at the most challenging time for members of our community in our regional areas. Thank you again to the member for Mount Gambier for this motion.