If attendance at a public meeting is a good indicator of community concern it should be pretty clear now that Orange expects NSW Health to focus on improving the nursing care of those approaching the end of their lives.

This is not a reflection of the care and dedication of those working in the area, but rather a comment on the facilities that exist and how they shape the experience of patients and their families.

Up to 200 people attended the meeting with many of them offering their services on a committee which will push for input on how palliative care will be provided.

In many ways the evening delivered what health planners and the state government needed to hear, that despite the compassion of nurses and doctors, the current model of moving terminally ill patients out of wards into private rooms where possible is not good enough.

Speakers from the floor raised issues around privacy, access to pain relief around the clock and communication between the hospital and family doctors once patients were admitted.

The meeting was constructive for many reasons but particularly because it became clear that a hospice or a separate ward with facilities for visiting family members is not really an option in Orange hospital.

Memories of the separate palliative care ward at the old hospital that was lost in the redevelopment remain with many people. A modern version of that facility is the model many see as the ideal.

If that is to happen short-term plans for better palliative care at the hospital need to be made and a strategy developed to build a hospice which will serve Orange’s growing need in the future.

The latter is a mammoth task but one look at the health facilities the community has helped build should banish doubts that it can’t be done.