NSW MPs have hit back against proposed cuts to palliative care education at University of Technology Sydney (UTS), part of a drastic restructuring plan to plug a $100 million hole in its budget.
“Palliative care provides vital support for the dying,” Sue Carter MLC, the co-chair of Parliamentary Friends of Palliative Care, told The Catholic Weekly.
“We need more skilled physicians – cutting this degree is a cost-cutting measure for the university, but ignores the significant human cost involved.”
A former professor of palliative care, Dr Philip Lee, has launched an e-petition to the Legislative Council to demand that UTS “immediately desist with any proposal to cut postgraduate palliative care courses.” More than a thousand people have signed it to date.
UTS is one of only two universities in Australia providing postgraduate courses in palliative care. The other is Flinders University in Adelaide.
UTS’s “Operational Sustainability Initiative” calls for discontinuing an on-line graduate certificate, a graduate diploma, and master’s in palliative care, along with nearly 170 other courses.
Palliative care is the medical specialty dealing with the physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of the dying, helping them to live as well as possible in last days.
It was widely discussed in the parliamentary debate over the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act, which was passed in 2022. Opponents of VAD complained that patients would be offered death rather than the compassion and pain management that comes with good palliative care.
However, even VAD’s supporters recognised that it is necessary.
Palliative care “is an essential component of a modern healthcare system,” said former MLC Adam Searle, who introduced the VAD bill into the Legislative Council. But he noted at the time that: “New South Wales does not have an adequate number of palliative care specialist doctors and nurses, particularly in rural and regional areas.”
Greg Donnelly MLC told The Catholic Weekly that limiting options for studying palliative care involves huge risks.
“UTS has played a critical part in delivering postgraduate courses that have enabled the delivery of world class palliative care to countless numbers of individuals at the end of their life, and their families over many years,” he said.
“It is shocking to think that the cutting of such courses would lead to our citizens going down the path of physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia, instead of being able to access palliative care because of shortages in key staff who need to be able to obtain the necessary certification.”
UTS has a world reputation for research into palliative care.
The co-chair of its Palliative Care Clinical Studies Collaborative, Associate Professor Tim Luckett, told The Catholic Weekly there is a “growing gap between supply and demand for palliative care”. The need is growing as Australia’s population ages.
“It’s conservatively estimated that 92 per cent of people who die in residential aged care would benefit from palliative care,” he said.
Palliative medicine specialist Professor Richard Chye, of St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, says that he understands UTS has to make hard financial decisions.
But he fears that discontinuation will deter nurses from pursuing palliative care as a satisfying career option. The workforce is ageing and if younger nurses don’t see a clear pathway forward, they may look elsewhere.
“We are death-denying society, and continue to be a death-denying society,” he said. “And therefore, from that point of view, we’re always going to be at a disadvantage trying to attract people into our specialty.”
Dr Lee says that discontinuing the palliative care courses could thwart the state government’s plans for providing good end-of-life care.
“We could run into the situation where we’ve got positions that have been funded by the state government, which is great, but they can’t be filled because you haven’t got sufficient nurses and other allied health, physiotherapists, social workers, etc, with the qualifications to certify for that role.”
He also believes that discontinuation of the courses could enhance the appeal of “voluntary assisted dying.”
“If you have people who can’t access palliative care, they’re suffering, then they’re more likely to request voluntary assisted dying,” he told The Catholic Weekly.
“Over 60 per cent of people who have utilised voluntary assisted dying are in rural areas …which are under resourced and can’t access adequate quality palliative care. So understandably they’re going to request voluntary assisted dying.”
Acting Dean of Health Professor Lynn Sinclair said that UTS has not make a final decision on discontinuing palliative care courses.
“Any proposed changes would not take effect until the 2026 academic year. All current students will be able to complete their courses.”