Specialist community-based palliative care

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Re: Green defends death rates, Jan 5.

In this recent article Jim Green is quoted as saying “. . . there is no hospice in Tairawhiti and this service is provided by Gisborne Hospital”. I assume Mr Green has been misquoted or edited, as he is well aware of the existence of Hospice Tairawhiti and the services we provide.

I believe when Mr Green says there is no hospice in Tairawhiti he is referring to what many people would imagine a hospice to be — a building with an in-patient unit, where patients can go to die.

Hospice Tairawhiti provides specialist “community-based” palliative care and therefore does not have an “in-patient unit”. We provide care and support wherever the patient may be including home, aged residential care, or hospital, and work in partnership with the patient’s existing healthcare professionals.

This is a very successful model shared by eight other hospice services in New Zealand, including our neighbours Rotorua, Taupo and Whakatane. Given a choice, most people would choose to die in their own home, in familiar surroundings, with the care of their whanau — and we do our best to facilitate this.

In Tairawhiti the majority of hospice patients die in their own home or aged residential care, with only 25 percent dying in hospital in the last reporting year — a total of 28 people.

Hospice care is so much more than just the last days of life and place of death. Our aim is to help people make the most of their lives; to live every moment in whatever way is important to them, and wherever possible to die in their place of choice.

For further information on the services we provide visit our website www.hospicetairawhiti.org.nz

Barbara Grout

Hospice Tairawhiti general manager

Footnote from Hauora Tairawhiti chief executive Jim Green:

Barbara is right. When responding to the number of deaths at Gisborne Hospital it should have said there is no “in-patient” hospice facility in Tairawhiti. When required this service is provided by Gisborne Hospital and hence the effect on number of hospital deaths recorded. I apologise for not making this difference clear.

As Barbara quite rightly points out, given the choice, most people choose to die in their own homes. The high quality service provided by Hospice Tairawhiti makes this possible and is very valued by patients and family and the health community.