The Andrews Labor Government is ensuring all terminally ill Victorians can receive the essential end of life care they need, supporting care providers to expand and upgrade their services.

Minister for Health Many-Anne Thomas yesterday visited the new Palliative Care Southeast Community Hub in Narre Warren to inspect works on the brand new two-storey facility, one of many services benefitting from the $32 million investment to strengthen palliative care across Victoria.

The $2 million investment by the Labor Government will build the new world-class hub and help the service transition from its existing location in Cranbourne while making sure locals continue to get the best end-of-life care in their community.

The hub will include space for counselling rooms, therapeutic wellbeing gardens, bereavement support groups, art, music and massage therapy and other activities to support people living with a life-limiting illness.

It will not only service as a central hub to coordinate activities and services for the community today, but also set the region up so they can effectively respond to the needs of an ageing population well into the future.

Palliative Care South East provides home-based care to more than 450 patients at any given time and offers a range of in-person and virtual appointments. It also provides support for families and carers, coordinates specialist training programs for both palliative care professionals and volunteers and runs bereavement services for family and friends.

The investment comes in addition to the Government’s package to strengthen community palliative care across the state. The package is supporting palliative care providers as demand for care increases and helping them to extend their services to support Victorians receiving care at home.

As part of the package, the Labor Government is investing $17 million to ensure that regional Victorians get high quality and compassionate end-of-life care across a range of community settings — in their homes, residential facilities, and through primary care.

An extra $2.7 million has been invested to support the statewide Palliative Care Advice Service, which offers free and confidential advice about life-limiting illness, palliative care or end of life care.

Quotes attributable to Minister for Health Mary-anne Thomas

“We want to make sure palliative care services have the facilities and resources they need to deliver the end-of-life care that treats patients with the dignity, compassion and respect they deserve.”

“We’re supporting our palliative care providers to ensure that all Victorians regardless of where they live can get the care they need in their community — with their loved ones.”