NSLHD News June 3 2022

Member for Manly James Griffin MP and NSLHD Chief Executive Deb Willcox

Structure completed for australian first hospice at manly The Member for Manly James

structure and installation of the roof for the new facility. The internal fit-out works for the hospice are progressing well, which will include eight purpose-built patient suites and two, two-bedroom family suites. The facility will offer respite care, symptom management and end of life care for

patients between the ages of 15 and 24. The development has been made possible through generous donations from the community and funding committed by the NSW and Australian governments. Construction of the AYAH Manly is on track for completion in late 2022.

Griffin MP recently visited the site of Australia’s first dedicated adolescent and young adult hospice, to view progress at the Manly facility. Despite wet weather challenges, the project has achieved significant construction progress, including completion of the palliative care week The palliative care department at Royal North Shore Hospital recently celebrated National Palliative Care Week (NPCW) with a conversation starter initiative. NPCW aims to increase understanding about the many benefits of palliative care and how it can help not only those dying, but anyone with a life-limiting illness. To mark the occasion, the palliative care department at RNSH set up buckets in some of the inpatient wards that had an individually wrapped tea bag and a conversation starter card to encourage people to talk to their families and friends about what matters most to them at end-of-life. RNSH Clinical Nurse Consultant Jacqueline Endicott said the idea for the initiative stemmed from some of the data the team had seen around people having

The RNSH Palliative Care Department

conversations about their wishes. “We want people to start talking because 88 per cent of people report they know what their wishes are if they become unwell but only 50 per cent of people have actually told anyone about them,” she said. “It’s only a small gesture, but we’re hoping that the teabags and conversation starter help provide people with a means to have those conversations.”

RNSH Clinical Nurse Consultant Caitlin Macdonagh said it’s important to have weeks like NPCW to recognise the importance of palliative care and to dispel any myths around it. “Palliative care has a stigma attached to it that it is only for people who are dying,” she said. “It is much more than that - it is about improving a person’s

quality of life through patient-centred care.”

4 NSLHDNEWS | ISSUE 10 | 3 JUNE 2022

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