Mr Begg watched his wife die over a long period of time in 2012 and he considers his opinion relatively educated, given he was with her in multiple hospitals. 

He believes families need the choice to have their loved ones die at home with assistance from palliative care nurses and the 47 private rooms available at the hospital are adequate to cater for the families who would prefer their dying loved ones to be in a hospital.

Mr Begg is the chairperson of the Orange Health Service Palliative Care Service Community Consultative Committee group.

“We had a really great meeting with the minister ... she is a person who has an interest in palliative care because she lost a lifelong friend far too early,” Mr Begg said. 

He said Ms Skinner gave a commitment to work closely with the group to plan for palliative care services in Orange in the future through the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation. 

“To look at ways of planning ahead,” he said.

“There are a lot of baby boomers approaching the need for palliative and end-of-life care and we want to make sure Orange Health Service can plan for that.”

Palliative care choices should be discussed within families in much the same way as organ donation should be discussed, Mr Begg said.

The choice is a personal one, and therefore people need to have flexibility and options, he said.

“Look we’ve seen some adverse publicity and I think it stems from misunderstanding,” he said. 

Mr Begg said a designated palliative care ward was not what was needed and urged anyone with concerns to come along to the consultative group and express their concerns.

The next meeting is at 2pm on February 23 at  the Orange Health Service administration building. 

nicole.kuter@fairfaxmedia.com.au