Palliative care patients at hospital to receive better creature comforts

Orange and Parkes hospitals have received a $245,000 grant from the state government, with Orange's share of the money to be spent by June and Parkes' next financial year.

Western NSW Local Health District palliative care strategic manager Christine Symington said there were many choices in palliative care options.

"Certainly we have a percentage of patients who die at home, there's a proportion who die in residential aged care facilities, there is a percentage who die in hospital and another percentage at Uniting Parkwood," she said.

But for the patients who needed or chose to be in hospital, Ms Symington said the funds would cover specialist mobile chairs to help palliative care patients move outside their bedroom area more comfortably.

"They're portable so if they want to move around, they can," she said.

She said previous money had also been spent on art and decorative features like curtains.

"Or those more personal kinds of things that have a level of comfort," she said.

"We want to make people feel like it's a more comfortable and less clinical environment."

Ms Symington said the funding would have no bearing on a trial of four palliative care beds at Uniting Parkwood, which will conclude in June.

LHD chief executive officer Scott McLachlan said in a statement the refurbishments will help bring comfort to people at the end of life.

"In Orange, the funding will help to create more home-like communal areas in the hospital where patients and their families spend time together," he said.

Mr McLachlan said the service's Aboriginal health worker in palliative care would work with teams to create culturally appropriate and comfortable spaces.

A total of 34 palliative care facilities will be refurbished during the next two years, costing $10 million.

In Parkes, the funding will be used to create a larger and more private space for palliative care patients and their families, as well as improvements to the courtyard area.