25 October 2022
The State Government has appointed the inaugural Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Review Board, in what it calls a significant step to deliver safe, compassionate and accessible VAD in South Australia.
The eight-member Board comprises senior clinicians, legal professionals, ethical and governance experts and those with first-hand experience supporting people at end of life.
Dr Melanie Turner, a leading psychiatrist with extensive background in quality and safety compliance, heads the Review Board, set up to establish the processes and procedures needed before the VAD Act fully commences.
The Review Board will retrospectively monitor VAD assessments, promote continuous improvement and ensure the functions and powers of all people involved comply with the Act to provide a community-focused model of care.
State Labor says the introduction of safe, accessible voluntary assisted dying will be further protected through 70 safeguards enshrined in the Act to maintain confidence in the health system and support families.
Labor has brought the rollout date forward to January next year and will continue to review if the implementation can be safely expedited further.
Key issues now being worked through include installing a new IT system for the laws and the training and communication with doctors required.
New pharmacists and care navigators are being hired and trained to deliver the scheme with implementation on track for terminally ill South Australians from January 31, 2023.
Patients and medical practitioners will be supported along the VAD pathway by dedicated teams including pharmacists, care navigators and the VAD Review Board.
The Government also announced this week that specialist palliative care nurses were being sought in regional areas as part of a mass recruitment drive to improve end-of-life care and boost services across the state.
It says the senior full-time equivalent roles – 10 in total – will be hired throughout all six regional Local Health Networks to help more South Australians living in rural and remote areas receive end-of-life care closer to home.
The Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2021 passed State Parliament in a historic vote in June last year, opening the door for terminally ill adults to access legal euthanasia.
The Bill requires eligible patients to be aged over 18 and to have lived in SA for at least a year. Their condition must be terminal, with death likely within six months, and causing unbearable suffering with no prospect of relief. The patient must have their cognitive competency verified by two independent medical practitioners. A doctor cannot raise the VAD option with a patient.
It is the position of the ANMF (SA Branch) to support choice. We and our members campaigned over many years for the introduction of VAD laws.
Some state MPs acknowledged in Parliament how the powerful testimony of nurses who care for dying patients had helped move them to vote yes to the VAD bill last year.
However, we also acknowledge and respect the many differing views in our profession. We come from diverse cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds and everyone has the right to their opinion and for that opinion to be respected. As such, we will also continue to ensure that laws have appropriate safeguards in place and the rights of those to conscientiously object are also upheld.