A review of palliative care services in Orange and calls for a hospice and a dedicated hospital unit are in part the result of changes introduced at Orange hospital over the last two years.

In the move from the old hospital in Prince Street to the Bloomfield health campus, palliative care went from a dedicated ward with private rooms to the allocation of private rooms in the new hospital on a case-by-case basis.

The health service maintains the level of care and privacy has not declined but some family members of those receiving palliative care and health professionals do not agree.

The issue came to a head in May 2013 when the area health service announced it would be moving some specialist palliative care staff into other hospitals or other roles in Orange hospital.

There was also talk of some palliative care patients being moved out of Orange hospital to Molong or Canowindra hospitals for palliative care. This did not eventuate.

What followed was months of at times semantic argument about what constituted palliative care or a dedicated ward. 

In October 2014 Orange council launched a petition calling for the NSW government to fund a hospice. A palliative care community consultative group was also formed.

Since then there have been meetings of the community group with hospital staff and a meeting between the group and Health Minister Jillian Skinner. The focus has moved from recriminations to discussing what shape palliative care should take in the future.

Next month’s meeting should help health planners gauge demand for a palliative care ward, a hospice and the number of specialist staff needed to support those people who would like to die at home.

It is crucial that residents attend and tell their stories and policy makers listen.