Media release – Primary Health Tasmania (Tasmania PHN), Monday 8 May 2023
Projects to improve palliative care underway
Better awareness, understanding and care are at the heart of a palliative care grants program supporting 16 community organisations, care facilities and service providers across Tasmania.
The two-stage grants program is jointly funded by the Australian Government through Primary Health Tasmania (Tasmania PHN) and the Tasmanian Government.
As part of the $526,000 of grant funding under round one, six care and support providers have been awarded grants totalling $373,000 to improve the quality of services for people living with a life-limiting condition.
A further 10 grants worth $153,000 have been awarded to local not-for-profit community-based organisations to help build social connections and facilitate opportunities for conversations around the topics of death and dying.
Community-led activities being delivered with the funding include events hosting conversations around death and dying; the production of written memoirs for people with life-limiting conditions; training for volunteers to help members of their community who are affected by life-limiting illness; and consultation on palliative care needs and barriers for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
A second round of grants funding has now opened, offering up to $100,000 each to allow organisations to review and improve their models of care to better support people with life-limiting illnesses.
Healthcare and community service providers across the public and private sectors can apply for this second round of funding.
The CEO of Primary Health Tasmania, Mr Phil Edmondson, said 70 per cent of Australians want to die at home, but only 19 per cent do so.
“We hope initiatives funded through these grants will see more Tasmanians feeling comfortable talking about death and dying, having better access to palliative care and other services, and being more likely to receive the kind of end-of-life care they want,” Mr Edmondson said.
The Premier and Minister for Health, Jeremy Rockliff, said the grants are part of the Rockliff Liberal Government’s $6.8 million investment in improving community palliative care using a public health approach.
“We are committed to ensuring Tasmanians have access to the best possible palliative care services and these grants will support our service providers and community organisations to take a compassionate approach to palliative care,” Premier Rockliff said.
A full list of community and service provider grant recipients under for round one is available at www.primaryhealthtas.com.au.
Applications for the second round of grants close at 5pm on Friday 26 May and can be made by registering on Primary Health Tasmania’s eTender portal at portal.tenderlink.com/primaryhealthtas.
The grants program is jointly funded by the Australian Government under the Greater Choice for At-Home Palliative Care Measure, and the Tasmanian Government under Palliative Care Partnerships Funding.
Primary Health Tasmania (Tasmania PHN) is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation working to connect care and keep Tasmanians well and out of hospital. It was established under the Australian Government’s Primary Health Networks Program to support and enable a coordinated, primary care-focused health system.
