The New Zealand Nurses Organisation has urged the Government to provide essential funding to Totara Hospice.
The Coalition Government must provide urgent funding to Totara Hospice to stop it from having to cut its services by a quarter from next week, according to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation.
Totara Hospice provides end-of-life care at no direct cost to patients from a diverse and growing community of around 520,000 South Aucklanders and is the subject of a new documentary series called Hospice Heroes.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) delegate and hospice nurse Ed Boswell-Correa said staff were yesterday told the hospice had to reduce the number of people they actively care for in a month from 420 to 320 because of a lack of Government funding.
"This decision is devastating for the local community. It will mean only the sickest people will be able to access our services,” said Boswell-Correa.
“It will force elderly people to remain in aged care facilities when they need specialist palliative care. Other people will be forced to go to Middlemore Hospital for care or, worse still, not receive the care they need at all.”
He said these dying people deserve the dignity they are provided by hospice care when they are dying.
Boswell-Correa said this “bombshell announcement” followed a hiring freeze Totara was forced to put in place last month.
"Fewer nurses and health care assistants mean less care for our patients. We want to be able to provide our patients and their whānau with the health care they need at this traumatic time in their lives," he said.
Sadly, Totara Hospice isn’t alone. NZNO is aware of at least four other hospices having to reduce their services. The Coalition Government must provide Te Whatu Ora with the funding it needs to save these services now.
A report in March found that hospices provide taxpayers with at least NZD 1.59 in health benefits for every dollar of government funding.
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