SA Government announces a new grants program aimed at improving palliative care

SA Government announces a new grants program aimed at improving palliative care

The South Australian Government has announced a new grants program aimed at improving palliative care across the state. The Palliative Care 2020 Grants Program offers a limited number of grants of up to $150,000 each.

Leading Aged Services Australia (LASA) welcomed the move, which they see as a step towards ensuring palliative care is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“This has the potential to be a palliative and end-of-life care game-changer in many communities across the state,” said LASA SA state manager Rosetta Rosa.

“LASA has worked closely with SA Health on the grants program and we congratulate both the Government and SA Health on the support now available to make one of the most challenging times of life a little easier.

“The focus is on innovation and the capacity to offer different services that meet local needs, across both regional and metropolitan areas.”

The grants will focus on improving access to palliative care in residential aged care as well as increasing the training and mentoring of the aged care workforce.

It will also look to target priority populations such as rural and remote communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, people with complex needs and disabilities, and their families.

Palliative Care SA were consulted in the preparation of this grant and see this as the first step towards improving palliative care across the state.

“We’ve been consulted in the development of the grant and the release and we’ve agreed to support getting it out so people know about it,” said Palliative Care SA executive director Mark Waters.

“The Liberal government has put in $4 million per annum over the next two years,” he said.

“We certainly encourage people to look at the grants and make sure that as many grant applications are lodged as people want.”

Non-Government Organisations from across the state which have experience, capability or interest in delivering innovative palliative care services can apply for grants of up to $150,000 to develop their capacity. Individual NGOs may apply for more than one grant for different projects.

Applications open on Monday 10 February 2020 and close on 28 February and must be submitted to the Department of Health and Wellbeing by emailing Health.PalliativeCareGrants@sa.gov.au. 

This article was originally published on Aged Care Insite on 10/2/2020 by Conor Burke.