Dr. Eric Kelleher:

I remember, a week after we launched our position paper, driving in my car and listening to local radio. It was coming up to Christmas and patients with terminal illnesses were being directed to the emergency department because of the lack of nursing and palliative care in the community. There is clearly a certain level of basic access to care for people with palliative care needs that we need to be able to provide. As we know from everything that is happening in the health service at the moment, it is not just about having the places; it is also about having adequately supported staff to go into those places. One would expect that a basic level of care could be provided, including access to pain treatment in one's home, ideally with palliative care, and access to mental health supports in hospices. At present, this is not available in any hospice nationally.