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 Tasmanian Government and Australian Government through Primary Health Tasmania.
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 ten 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 grant funding has now opened, offering grants of 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 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.
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 Palliative Care Partnership Small 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.
For a full list of grant recipients for Round One, visit www.primaryhealthtas.com.au/2023/04/12324/.
Applications for Round Two close at 5pm on Friday 26 May 2023 and can be made by registering on the Primary Health Tasmania’s eTender portal at portal.tenderlink.com/primaryhealthtas
