As Parkes awaits for a birthing service to return to the Parkes Hospital, in the meantime the facility’s palliative care ward is about to receive a face lift.
Parkes and Orange hospitals have received a $245,000 grant from the state government, with Parkes’ share of the money to be spent by the next financial year and Orange’s by June.
Western NSW Local Health District palliative care strategic manager Christine Symington said there were many choices in palliative care options.
“Certainly we have a percentage of patients who die at home, there’s a proportion who die in residential aged care facilities and there is a percentage who die in hospital,” she said.
For the patients who needed or chose to be in hospital, the funding will be used to create a larger and more private space for palliative care patients and their families.
Improvements are also planned for a courtyard area near the inpatient unit.
“We want to make people feel like it’s a more comfortable and less clinical environment,” Ms Symington said.
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