Palliative Care Medical Services and After-Hours Support

⁠⁠⁠SNSWLHD has well established specialist nurse-led palliative care services which have been developed to meet current and future challenges of providing care in a rural and regional setting. The nurse led services were formally augmented via an external partnership in 2020 with specialist medical outreach which included after hours medical support for SNSWLHD medical officers. There was further augmentation via this partnership in 2024 with specialist palliative care nursing services providing telehealth support after hours to patients and carers, as well as to community nursing staff.

There are currently five small nurse-led, medically supported specialist services in SNSWLHD based in Goulburn, Queanbeyan, Cooma, Bega Valley and Eurobodalla, covering all regions in the District. Each service has access to a medical specialist, a nurse practitioner-led specialist nursing team, generalist allied health, palliative care volunteers, equipment loan and hire, community nursing, (acute) inpatient services, after hours support and bereavement support.

The specialist nursing teams operate during business hours Monday to Friday excluding public holidays.

The services are supported as required on weekends and public holidays by local community nursing teams.

Palliative Care teams do not take over the care of patients but work collaboratively with primary and other first line services to provide services, providing consultative support and end of life planning and preparation with increasing levels of involvement in care dependent on complexity. The teams provide consultative in-reach to acute facilities as well as comprehensive support for non-admitted patients and their families.

The Cooma and Snowy River region currently has a small specialist nursing team supported by a privately operating medical specialist. The service will work collaboratively with the private specialist and provide medical backup when that service is not available. The Cooma and Snowy River region services and registered patients will have access to the after-hours supports.  

The purpose of the tender is to source an experienced and accredited supplier or suppliers for oversight and management of:

• Palliative Care Medical Specialist services

• After Hours palliative care specialist medical telehealth support service for SNSWLHD medical officers

• After hours specialist nursing telehealth support service for patients and carers 

Primary contact:

Mamun Rashid

mamun.rashid@health.nsw.gov.au

02 96853646