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The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare is seeking feedback on their revised National Consensus Statement: Essential elements for safe and high quality end of life care.

The health care that people receive in the last years, months and weeks of their lives can help to minimise the distress and grief associated with death and dying for the individual, and for their family, friends and carers. The purpose of this National Consensus Statement: essential elements for safe and high-quality end-of-life care is to describe the elements that are essential for delivering safe and high-quality end-of-life care in Australia. It sets out suggested practice for the provision of end-of-life care in settings where health care is provided.

The essential elements are the features that are required in health care systems to ensure safe and high-quality care for patients who are approaching the end of life.

This is a great opportunity to ensure volunteer services are positioned prominently in end of life care and volunteers are considered an essential part of the workforce.

The National Consensus Statement has ten elements and the survey asks whether each is relevant and applicable. My observations were that references to volunteers and volunteer services could be more prominent as part of end of life care provision.

Essential element 3: Multidisciplinary collaboration and coordination of care

– Palliative Care Volunteers should be considered an essential part of the palliative care workforce
– The Manager of Palliative Care Volunteers should be part of the multi-disciplinary care team

Essential element 4: Comprehensive care

– Grief and bereavement services should be included in comprehensive care
– Volunteers services support person-centred care for both the patients and family/carers

Essential element 6: Leadership, governance, and readiness

-Formal governance should include provision for palliative care volunteer services

Essential element 7: Support, education, and training

– Healthcare workers should be educated on the role of palliative care volunteers

Ensure your voice is heard by completing the survey before it closes on January 14.

Click here to do the survey.