Gail and Juliette O’Brien lost their husband and father Dr Chris O’Brien to a brain tumour in 2009 and said the challenge was transitioning from hope he would recover from his illness to addressing the reality of his condition.

“Where our story is relevant is whether we as a family made that transition soon enough and I think we probably didn’t,” Ms O’Brien said.

“So the plan was for dad to die at home - we had no idea at the time that there was no way he could die at home because we were completely unprepared.”

Only 16 per cent of people currently pass away at home and Mrs O’Brien said in a hospital situation, there should be dedicated palliative care beds or link with a hospice situation, saying the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse’s hospice had been successful.

“We have an extraordinary number of people who pass away because it’s a cancer hospital and we never planned for it to be a hospice situation but because the care was so beautiful and the environment was so beautiful, people don’t want to leave there and that’s the way it should be,” she said.

Councillor Glenn Taylor said there was no disputing the palliative care resources and staff at Orange Health Service.

“But the push is still on for a dedicated palliative care facility to give people that privacy and dignity in their last days,” he said.

However, Orange Health Service general manager Catherine Nowlan said each speciality area in the hospital had single rooms, which could be serviced by the specialist palliative care team, in addition to an after hours service to help patients in the community.

“The single room might be in the intensive care environment - we wouldn’t move someone from that environment, we would allow their end of life experience to be in the ICU,” she said.

“The same in the primary care ward, the same in the paediatric ward and the rehabilitation unit, the single rooms are the ones we use.”

She said systems had been put in place to provide priority access and it had been effective.

Associate Professor Amanda Walker said while GPs and other health professionals could provide advice on passing away at home, the most important thing for patients was to tell their loved ones their wishes and plan in advance.

“It hurts to lose someone you love but it makes a difference to be able to follow through on their wishes,” she said.

Western NSW Local Health District allied health director Richard Cheeney said the more care could be co-ordinated the better the at-home rates would be.

“We want to support them through our specialist palliative care teams to be able to facilitate good end of life care.”

danielle.cetinski@fairfaxmedia.com.au