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life & death matters
Newsletter of Gippsland Region Palliative Care Consortium
NO.22 SUMMER 2012
www.gha.net.au/GRPCC
This Issue:
MESSAGE from THE CHAIR
Specialist Palliative Care
Consultancy Service Report
Aged Care Link Nurse project update
East Gippsland Palliative Care
Information Sharing day
Nurse Practitioner Program update
Whats new in palliative care
On the Couch WITH Dr Scott King
Introducing Carol Barbeler
Introducing Irene Murphy
Contacts:
Anne Curtin – Chair, GRPCC
t. (03) 5623 0614
e. anne.curtin@wghg.com.au
Vicki Doherty
– Consortium Manager
t. 0419 797 513
e. vicki.doherty@bcrh.com.au
Judy Coombe – Admin Support
t. (03) 5623 0684
e. grpcc@gha.net.au
Anny Byrne – PROJECT OFFICER
t. (03) 5623 0684
e. anny.byrne@wghg.com.au
Carol Barbeler – Palliative
Aged Care Resource Nurse
t. (03) 5622 6482
e. carol.barbeler@wghg.com.au
Irene Murphy – Nurse
Practitioner
t. 0437 123 876
e. irene.murphy@wghg.com.au
Karen Raabe – PROJECT OFFICER
t. (03) 5623 0684
e. karen.raabe@wghg.com.au
MARIA GARRET – PROJECT OFFICER
t. (03) 5622 6481
e. maria.garrett@wghg.com.au
Mary Ross-Heazlewood
– PROJECT OFFICER
t. (03) 5667 5661
e. mary.ross-heazlewood@gshs.com.au
Office Hours:
8.30am - 4.30pm Mon-Fri
Phone (03) 5623 0684
Fax (03) 5622 6488
Message from the Chair
Anne Curtin
As another year
draws to a close
and we start looking
ahead to 2013, it
is timely to take
stock of the GRPCC’s
achievements. Since
the last newsletter,
we have submitted
the 2012 Annual Report to the Department
of Health, finalised the 2012-2015 GRPCC
Strategic Plan and reviewed the Specialist
Palliative Care Consultancy Program. A report
on the Specialist Program is included in this
newsletter.
Two new scholarships were announced
in October to support health professionals
wishing to improve their skills and
confidence in palliative care through
attendance at professional development
or post-graduate education. All applicants
will be notified of the outcome of their
application shortly. Successful scholars will be
announced in our next newsletter.
As part of the Consortium’s regional
governance, an updated Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) between the member
services has been signed, effective until
December 2015. The MoU underpins the
work of the GRPCC in providing palliative
care services across Gippsland.
Last month the Department of Health
requested that funded palliative care
services complete a self-assessment against
the palliative care Service Capability
Framework. The framework details three
types of palliative care services: inpatient;
community; and consultancy services. There
are three levels of inpatient services; two
levels of community services and one level
of consultancy service. The self-assessment
covers the following capability measures:
staffing profile; education, training and
research; quality framework; service
integration and linkages; infrastructure,
facilities and supporting services. Results will
be available to services in early 2013 with a
statewide forum planned for March.
On behalf of the member services, the
GRPCC delivers the regional Specialist
Palliative Care Consultancy Program with its
monthly multidisciplinary team meetings,
primary consultation clinics, secondary
phone consultations and palliative care
education. The Program also supports the
Nurse Practitioner Candidates who are
part funded by the GRPCC in three of four
Gippsland sub-regions. The GRPCC also
provides regional volunteer support. All of
these activities contribute towards assisting
member services achieving the requirements
of Level 1 and Level 2 palliative care services.
To deliver on increasing work priorities,
two new staff have been recruited to the
GRPCC team: Irene Murphy to the position
of Regional Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner
Mentor; and Carol Barbeler to the
position of Palliative Aged Care Resource
Nurse. Irene comes to us from Melbourne
Citymission with extensive experience in
palliative care and clinical leadership and
will provide support to our Nurse Practitioner
Candidates. Carol joins the team with
extensive experience working in the aged
care and vocational education sectors and
is responsible for the Aged Care Link Nurse
Project. You can read more about Irene and
Carol in this newsletter.
The GRPCC was also successful in obtaining
a $5,000 grant from the Department of
Families, Housing, Community Services and
Indigenous Affairs to develop a regional
education program for palliative care
volunteers.
Hard copies of the Annual Report and
Strategic Plan have been distributed to
member services and are available for
general viewing on the GRPCC website. The
website will undergo a review in the first half
of 2013 with the aim of making it more userfriendly
and easier to navigate.
On behalf of the GRPCC,
I wish you and your
families a joyful and
safe Christmas and look
forward to working with
you in the New Year.
The GRPCC team wish you and
your families a Merry Christmas
and a Happy and Safe New Year
GIPPSLAND REGION PALLIATIVE CARE CONSORTIUM NEWSLETTER NO.22 SUMMER 2012

Report on GRPCC Specialist Palliative Care
Consultancy Program 2007-2012
Access to specialist palliative care
consultancy services has been very limited in
Gippsland until recent years. However this
is changing thanks to the GRPCC Specialist
Palliative Care Consultancy Service Program.
A recently compiled report on the Program
shows that much progress has been made
between 2007 and 2012.
The Program has been possible with
funding from the Department of Human
Services (DHS) and Department of Health
(DH), with recurrent funding since 2007
through a Rural Palliative Care Medical
Purchasing Fund. The GRPCC has built on
this to develop a Specialist Palliative Care
Consultancy Service Plan for Gippsland
2011-15, which aims to have a resident
regional specialist palliative care consultancy
service in place by 2015.
On-going partnerships with three metropolitan
based palliative care consultancy
services were established in 2008: Calvary
Health Care Bethlehem; Peninsula Health
Palliative Care Unit; and Southern Health
Supportive & Palliative Care Service. Visits
to Gippsland commenced later in 2008,
and the service now includes four main
components involving palliative medicine
specialists:
• Palliative care education to health professionals;
• Multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings;
• Secondary phone consultations; and
• Primary consultation clinics.
The growth of the Program overall and its
components are shown in the Figure below.
Education has been an important part of the
Program since its beginning and an annual
regional calendar is now developed based
on the needs of the region. MDT meetings
to discuss palliative care patients (or issues)
with the purpose of delivering best practice
care started in 2009 and have become a
substantial part of the service since 2010.
Secondary phone consultations have been
available for parts of Gippsland since 2008,
but are now available to medical professionals
and nurses across the region. Primary
consultation clinics commenced in 2012,
and have been held at Bairnsdale Regional
Health Service, Central Gippsland Health
Service, Gippsland Lakes Community Health,
Latrobe Community Health Service and
Latrobe Regional Hospital (William Buckland
Radiotherapy Gippsland).
The palliative care consultancy services also
support the Nurse Practitioner Candidates
(NPC), who are part funded by the GRPCC
in three of four Gippsland sub-regions.
Assistance with policy and procedure
development has also been provided, e.g.
the rollout of the Pathway for Improving the
Care of the Dying (PICD).
For further information contact Anny Byrne,
GRPCC Project Officer on (03) 5623 0684 or email
anny.byrne@wghg.com.au
Aged Care Link
Nurse Project
Work is underway on the Aged Care Link
Nurse Project with the recent appointment
of our Palliative Aged Care Resource Nurse,
Carol Barbeler.
Carol’s role will be to support RACFs staff
to deliver a palliative approach to care by
providing free education and resources.
Carol will utilise an education program
that was formulated, researched and tested
through a federally-funded project in
Queensland. The education program and
resources include advance care planning,
advanced dementia care, physical and
emotional care in the terminal phase of
life, and end of life care pathways. This
education is linked to both the Aged Care
Accreditation Standards and Aged Care
Funding Instrument.
Access to this support will be made
available to all RACFs in Gippsland, and
therefore will be rolled out in stages. The
Consortium Management Group has agreed
to pilot the project in East Gippsland and
Wellington in March 2013. We anticipate
that training for RACFs in South Gippsland
and Bass Coast will be available in June
2013, and in La Trobe Valley and Baw
Baw in October 2013. Regular updates on
the Aged Care Link Nurse Project will be
included in this newsletter and on the GRPCC
website.
For further information you can contact
Carol Barbeler, GRPCC’s Palliative Aged Care
Resource Nurse on (03) 5622 6482 (Mon–Fri), or
email carol.barbeler@wghg.com.au
600
Hours
500
400
300
200
100
VISIT *
PRIMARY CONSULTATION
PHONE CONSULTATION
NPC SUPERVISION
MDT
GENERAL ADMIN
0
2008-­‐09 2009-­‐10 2010-­‐11 2011-­‐12
EDUCATION
Number of specialist palliative care consultancy service hours to
Gippsland by service category and financial year (excludes travel time). 1
1
Data are based on GRPCC agendas, specialist consultancy service time sheets and health service reports of visits, but it should be noted that data are
not complete and cannot be seen as an accurate record.
* “Visit” includes a variety of tasks, including initial visits to services and time not able to be allocated to a more specific category.
GIPPSLAND REGION PALLIATIVE CARE CONSORTIUM NEWSLETTER NO.22 SUMMER 2012

East Gippsland Palliative
Care Information
Sharing Day
14 November 2012 Bairnsdale RSL.
The GRPCC attended this community forum
which provided people in East Gippsland with
the opportunity to learn about community-based
care options for all stages of palliative care. There
was opportunity for attendees to speak directly
with representatives from community- based
care services, financial and support services, and
residential care facilities.
Presentations included an overview of palliative
care with a focus on quality of life issues; available
support services to assist carers of people living
with advanced dementia; options for people to
think about and pursue in relation to advanced
care directives; and legal and advocacy issues were
addressed through a very engaging speaker from
State Trustees.
It was a valuable information day and provided
networking opportunities with service providers
and industry representatives. It illustrated the
value to all attendees of being informed of choice,
and the importance of planning in advance for
palliative care from an individual perspective.
Nurse Practitioner
Program update
The GRPCC Nurse Practitioner Program was
one of the 11 recommendations of the Specialist
Palliative Care Consultancy Service Plan for
Gippsland. Key achievements of 2011-12 include:
Jo Kelly, Nurse Practitioner Candidate (NPC) for
Southern Region has been undertaking placements
at Peninsula Health to enhance her clinical skills.
Most recently, Jo submitted her portfolio for
endorsement as Nurse Practitioner.
Jenny Turra, NPC for Central West Region has
established a strong relationship with Latrobe
Regional Hospital and William Buckland Radiotherapy
Centre (WBRC). Jenny attends the LRH
Palliative Care Working Party, provides education
to LRH staff and attends ward rounds and primary
clinics with the visiting palliative medicine
specialists.
Nicola Gorwell, NPC for East Gippsland has
established multidisciplinary team meetings and
education sessions with many health services
across East Gippsland. Nicola has also been
measuring the impact of her role using tools
from the Palliative Care Outcomes Collaborative.
Evidence is emergin that there is a strong collaborative
approach in palliative care service delivery
in East Gippsland, which will have great benefits
for clients and carers.
Irene Murphy has been recruited to the GRPCC
as Regional Nurse Practitioner Mentor. Irene
brings many years of clinical leadership experience
to the region and will play a pivotal role in
supporting our NPCs to gain endorsement.
What’s new in palliative care?
Introduction to Palliative Care
Short Course
Monash University’s School
of Nursing and Midwifery will
be running the Introduction
to Palliative Care Short Course
again in August 2013. The course
was developed by Monash in
partnership with the GRPCC in
response to a need for an introductory
course for generalist healthcare
practitioners. The course runs over
13 weeks and covers palliative care
principles, communication, clinical
assessment and intervention in
palliative care as well as optimising
function in palliative care.
The GRPCC will be encouraging
Registered Nurses, Enrolled Nurses
and Allied Health Professionals to
attend the course.
Updates regarding course dates and
enrolments will be available on the
GRPCC website. Follow the Palliative
Care Education link on the left side of
home page.
Volunteers
The Managers of Palliative
Care Volunteers came together
this month to share ideas about
attracting and retaining volunteers
and ways in which the GRPCC
can support the services in this
endeavour. The majority of member
services have a dedicated manager
or coordinator of volunteers and
have at least two trained palliative
care volunteers. Member services
are responsible for inducting and
educating palliative care volunteers
within their own service.
Volunteers must receive formal
palliative care training as well as
experiential on-the-job training.
Palliative Care Victoria released
the second edition of the Palliative
Care Volunteer Training Resource
Kit earlier this year. The Resource
Kit is designed as a formal core
or induction training program
for prospective palliative care
volunteers which meets the
Victorian Palliative Care Volunteer
Standards (2007) and the Australian
Palliative Care Standards (2005).
There are nine modules covering:
an introduction to palliative
care; the volunteer’s role; communication;
spirituality; diversity;
responding to grief and loss;
illnesses and care; dying and death;
and self care of the volunteer.
One of the challenges faced by
the Managers of Palliative Care
Volunteers, many of whom work
one or two days a week, is limited
time and resources to provide
the formal training component
to volunteers. The GRPCC has
therefore agreed to work with
member services in delivering the
formal training component on a
sub-regional basis and to provide
training to those Managers who
have not had experience in training
others based on the Train the
Trainer model.
Details about the training schedule
will be released in the New Year.
Further information contact
Karen Raabe, GRPCC Project Officer on
(03) 5622 6481(Tuesday and Thursday)
or email karen.raabe@wghg.com.au
Bereavement support
standards for specialist
palliative care services
New standards for bereavement
support have been developed
by the Australian Centre for Grief
and Bereavement in partnership
with the Centre for Palliative Care.
The standards provide guidance
for the provision of bereavement
support by palliative care services
targeted at all carers and bereaved
individuals with elevated risk
of developing prolonged or
complicated grief or with current
psychosocial and/or spiritual
distress. Minimum standards for
the provision of bereavement
support at different points along
the bereavement trajectory are
provided.
The standards are available
at www.health.vic.gov.au/
palliativecare/publications.htm
Carers Recognition Act 2012
The Carers Recognition Act 2012
came into effect on 1 July 2012.
The Act has principles relating to
carers, people being cared for,
and people in care relationships.
The principles are primarily about
respect, recognition, support, consultation,
health and wellbeing, and
the ability of carers to participate in
education and employment.
An information kit about
the Act, Supporting people in
care relationships in Victoria:
Carers Recognition Act 2012 is
available on the Department
of Human Services website at
www.dhs.vic.gov.au/carersact
GIPPSLAND REGION PALLIATIVE CARE CONSORTIUM NEWSLETTER NO.22 SUMMER 2012

Staff Profile – Introducing Irene Murphy
I have been appointed to the position of Regional
Nurse Practitioner Mentor by the GRPCC. I have been
been in palliative care practice for sixteen years in the
sub-acute and community settings. I am grateful for the
professional opportunities given to me by my former
workplace (Melbourne City Mission Palliative Care)
to develop my skills base, knowledge and expertise
that resulted in Nurse Practitioner – Palliative Care
Endorsement by the NBV in 2005. I am committed to
excellence in clinical practice and have a strong interest
in the formation, training and education of palliative
care clinicians as well as the acquisition of effective
clinical leadership.
I am delighted to be working for the Consortium to
assist, participate and collaborate to effect its vision and
strategic planning to strengthen palliative care delivery
in the region. I want to express my thanks to the GRPCC
team for making me feel so welcome.
Staff Profile – Introducing Carol Barbeler
I am delighted to be taking up the role of Palliative
Aged Care Resource Nurse for Gippsland with the
GRPCC. After nearly ten years of teaching nursing
and aged care in the TAFE sector, I look forward to
supporting residential aged care facilities in their
palliative approach to care.
I am a registered nurse and have recently completed
my Master of Applied Gerontology at Flinders University.
I have a special interest in older people and their
experiences, and value the contributions that they
have made through their lives. Ensuring that the last
months and weeks of people’s lives are as comfortable
as possible and lead to a peaceful death is an important
and core component of residential aged care.
Even in my early weeks in this role, I am excited and
invigorated by the enthusiasm and support offered by
all of the GRPCC team. We are currently planning the
pilot implementation of palliative approach training for
Gippsland, and I look forward to keeping you up to date
with our progress.
On the Couch with Dr Scott King
1. What do you do for a living?
I am a palliative medicine specialist
working at Calvary Health Care
Bethlehem, Cabrini Health and Alfred
Health. I have a background in general
practice although I have not worked in
that area for 18 months.
2. What did you want to be when you
grew up?
I often said I wanted to be a doctor,
although I said a lot of other professions
as well. I grew up on a farm in Western
Victoria, but I never said I was going to
be a farmer.
3. What’s your favourite holiday
destination?
I’ve been quite fortunate to have
travelled to many parts of the world and
lived in the UK for almost four years. So
many places come to mind for so many
different reasons. Port Fairy is right up
there as it is lovely and was where we
always had our summer holidays as a
kid. Abroad, the Rasa Ria Resort Saba
- great facilities, great kids club. I’m at
that stage of life where kids clubs are
VERY important.
4. What will be written on your
headstone?
I never gave it a lot of thought. Maybe I
wouldn’t have one.
5. What music will be played at your
funeral?
Again not something that I have given
much thought. It would be something
uplifting though, not sombre.
6. What would your last outfit be?
What I am most comfortable in: tee
shirt, jeans and either bare-footed or in
my bright red Nikes.
7. Buried, cremated or snap-frozen?
Whatever the cheaper option is for the
family, funerals are so expensive. The
cheapest option is probably “dumped in
bushland” which would not be so bad.
Doubt I would care much.
8. What are you reading now?
I’m reading “Cloud Atlas” (soon to be
a major motion picture starring Tom
Hanks) when I can find it again. It’s
gone missing in the house somewhere. I
blame the kids. I have just finished “The
Hydrogen Sonata” by Ian M Banks.
9. What would youhave for your last
meal?
I would like to be able to cook my last
meal. I have great fun making a dinner,
with a good bottle (or two) of wine
for the cook, of course. Probably do
something Moroccan.
10. Which famous person would you like
to invite to dinner?
J.R.R. Tolkien, I am such a fan of
his incredible work. I have a million
questions.
11. If you were an animal what would it
be?
I was born in the year of the dog, and
I have a lot of dog-like characteristics.
Draw your own conclusions.
12. What lessons has your work life
taught you?
There have been many lessons. The
main one would be that you will not
achieve your goals if you don’t put in
the effort needed. It sounds straight
forward, but once I realised that
the excuses I made to myself for not
achieving goals, were really reasons and
that I could change or overcome these,
things changed. The effort required does
not have to be much, but appropriate.
The GRPCC is an alliance of 14
member agencies that provide inpatient
and/or community palliative care for
the residents of Gippsland. The GRPCC’s
vision is that Gippslanders with a lifethreatening
illness and their families and
carers will have access to a high quality
service system which is innovative and
provides evidence based co-ordinated
care and support that is responsive to
their individual needs.
The opinions expressed in “Life and
Death Matters” are those of contributors
and not necessarily shared by the GRPCC
or its individual member health services.
The Department of Health provides
GRPCC with core operational funding.
“Life and Death Matters” is produced
quarterly and distributed free of charge.
To subscribe, email your contact details
to grpcc@gha.net.au
The “Life and Death Matters” editorial
group is Vicki Doherty (Manager, GRPCC),
Steve Kirkbright (Design & Production);
with regular contributors Anny Byrne,
Mary Ross-Heazlewood, Karen Raabe,
Carol Barbeler, Irene Murphy, Maria
Garrett, member health services and
friends of GRPCC.
Letters to the editor are welcome.
Please email these to: grpcc@gha.net.au
or send to: The Editor “Life and Death
Matters” c/- West Gippsland Healthcare
Group 41 Landsborough St Warragul
3820 Victoria Australia. Phone (03)
5623 0684
GIPPSLAND REGION PALLIATIVE CARE CONSORTIUM NEWSLETTER NO.22 SUMMER 2012