Terminally ill Wimmera residents need to travel beyond the region for consultations on voluntary assisted dying, now the program is in effect.
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It has prompted one of the Wimmera's largest health providers to ask the state government to consider making changes to its voluntary assisted dying delivery model.
After an 18-month implementation period, the new laws give terminally ill people the right to choose the timing and manner of their deaths. The legislation passed State Parliament in October 2017 after a heated debate.
Rural Northwest Health chief executive Kevin Mills said the state's hospitals could choose one of three pathways when it comes to the extent to which they offer end of life services.
He said RNH had chosen Pathway C - to be an information and support service for those who want to access VAD - because they did not have the workforce or technology necessary to provide voluntary assisted dying.
"We were notified last week Ballarat Health Services is offering Pathway B - where it provides some services but needs assistance sourcing additional medical practitioners - intending to transition to Pathway A, where it can provide the entire service on its own," he said.
"We are not expecting residents of our aged care facility to use the service in any significant numbers, and there is no way of knowing how many people in the community would want to access it. But it is concerning if people from the area want to access the service and are at that stage of life where their health is poor, that they would have to travel."
Mr Mills said he hoped the government could consider altering Pathway C, so services like Rural Northwest Health could provide a space in which community members could end their lives without staff needing to be involved in the assessment process.
"We will be advocating for our communities so their access to this service is as easy as possible, whether that means facilities closer than Ballarat or discussion around how people travel to those services," he said.
Wimmera Health Care Group chief executive Catherine Morley said the group would also offer Pathway C, but was surveying staff on whether they would be willing to provide voluntary assisted dying services. She said Ballarat Palliative Care specialist Dr Greg Mewett talked to 47 staff about the program in Horsham two weeks ago.
"As an organisation we will work to ensure any member of the community who wants to investigate VAD has timely access," she said.
"People need to agree to be involved, and then they need to undergo specialist training to provide those services. At this stage, if we get a call, we will send them to a care navigator down in Melbourne, but ultimately we hope to have someone people can talk to in Horsham."
The state government has employed four care navigators in Melbourne to identify an appropriate medical practitioner for a referral. Ms Morley said helping residents get timely access could involve getting volunteers to drive them to appointments beyond the region.
"I think the whole state of Victoria is a bit behind the eight ball with the rollout," she said.
"Some community members will have been waiting for this date, and we just have to be responsive to what they want and support them as well as we can."
Stawell Regional Health Director of Clinical Services Kate Pryde said the service would begin by offering Pathway C with a view to offering Pathway B.
"It will be dependent on the community-based medical services electing to undertake the training, and we have the care navigators visiting the regions in July to support discussions in this space," she said.
"I certainly can say we're prepared and ready for those conversations if people want to raise them."
West Wimmera Health Services chief executive Ritchie Dodds said his organisation would also be offering Pathway C.
Mr Dodds said he did not expect a significant demand for voluntary assisted dying across the areas covered by the WWHS.
Edenhope and District Memorial Hospital's chief executive Andrew Saunders echoed this sentiment and said the organisation would also offer Pathway C to those who inquired about voluntary assisted dying.
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