Mon 12 February 2024

SHPA welcomes push for greater access to VAD services

At a media briefing this morning Monday 12 February at Parliament House Mural Hall, MP Kate Chaney introduced a private member's bill to the House of Representatives, calling to overturn a ban on telehealth consultations for people wanting to access VAD services. SHPA welcomes this push for legalisation, with the bill reflecting our ongoing advocacy over the past several months to exempt VAD from the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

'People are not getting access to end-of-life services, or we're making them travel long distances when they are terminaly ill and suffering and in pain,' Ms Chaney told the ABC's Afternoon Briefing.

In November last year, we wrote to the Attorney-General addressing our concerns around this issue, seeking to support VAD practitioners being able to provide VAD services to terminally ill patients via telehealth with the confidence they are practising within legal boundaries.

As SHPA President Tom Simpson FANZCAP states:

'Patients seeking assessment for VAD, especially those from rural and remote areas, are uniquely disadvantaged by the Current Code... Without telehealth options, these very ill and vulnerable patients, or the VAD practitioners themselves, are forced to travel long distances to access or provide treatment.

'As a VAD-credentialled pharmacist myself, I know first-hand the challenges faced not just by patients, but by practitioners who want certainty that they are practicing within the law. [Currently], in effect, VAD practitioners must choose between patient-centred care and legal-centred care.'

We welcome Ms Chaney's bill and are pleased to see increased awareness of this issue. SHPA plans to continue our ongoing advocacy to increase equity of access to VAD services Australia-wide.