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West Auckland Hospice Hosts Quality Palliative Care Forum

Tuesday 23 June 2009, 8:46AM

By West Auckland Hospic

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WAITAKERE CITY

Thirty health professionals from Hospices around the country will meet this Thursday at a day-long conference at West Auckland Hospice, to identify ways of improving the quality of Hospice palliative care for patients and their families.

Health & Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson will deliver a keynote speech on our responsibilities as health professionals to ensure that patients know they have choices about their treatment and care and that the choices they make will be respected.

“West Auckland Hospice is committed to the well-being of our patients, their care givers and families, and improving their access to Hospice services,” says West Auckland Hospice Chief Executive Officer, Barbara Williams. “We are proud to host this forum and assist in addressing such important topics for the benefit of our communities.”

The thirty Hospice health professionals are responsible for ensuring quality systems and best practice are implemented in Hospices nationwide. The group meets monthly by teleconference and once per year face to face. The HNZ Quality Network Annual Workshop & Forum is funded and organised by Hospice New Zealand and hosted by West Auckland Hospice.


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Additional Information about West Auckland Hospice:

West Auckland Hospice exists so that terminally ill people in West Auckland and those who grieve for them experience death as a dignified and compassionately supported process.

West Auckland Hospice provides free 24 hour, 7 day a week specialist palliative care. Our focus is on relieving physical pain and emotional and/or spiritual concerns of patients, care givers and their families, so that they experience end of life as fully as possible.

Our community Hospice serves a diverse population of 220,000 throughout greater West Auckland, to the west coast beaches, Kumeu and Helensville, and up to the South Kaipara Heads. At any one time our service delivery teams are caring for more than180 families in West Auckland, available 24/7.

Our teams of specialist nurses go to patients in their own homes giving them the choice to die at home with the proper care and support systems in place. We also provide specialist equipment, extensive grief and bereavement services, as well as a range of patient and family day programmes and complementary therapies including massage and acupuncture. These programmes are designed to give patients and their families access to specialist services and to provide information, support and interaction.

Although approximately 50% of our operational costs are received from the Waitemata District Health Board the remaining 50% needs to be fundraised to ensure that we can continue to provide our services free of charge to the people of West Auckland.