Katie Rose Cottage

Extract from Hansard
Wednesday 16 November, 2011
Katie Rose Cottage

The Sunshine Coast Community Hospice sincerely appreciates the Member for Noosa, Mr Glen Elmes, taking the time to show an interst in Katie Rose Cottage and raising in the Parliament the need for more State Government support, not only for our Hospice, but for the need for more Hospice support in Queensland.  Please see the Hansard Extract…


Mr ELMES (Noosa—LNP) (10.20 pm): Katie Rose Cottage at Doonan in the Noosa electorate is a palliative care centre established by the Sunshine Coast Community Hospice Ltd to provide support are to terminally ill adults, children and their carers living on the Sunshine Coast. The cottage is set in the grounds of a former winery and is designed almost as an extension of a person’s own home. It has been adapted to provide high-quality nursing support care to those who are no longer able to manage their final stage of life in their own home. Each of the rooms looks over beautiful garden areas that are constantly and carefully tended for the enjoyment of guests and each room adjoins another area for the use of family and friends.

Katie Rose Cottage operates with the support of a very small but extremely professional staff, together with a team of dedicated volunteers who number approximately 250, and this includes charity shops. Guests have a live-in, 24-hour registered nurse and, together with the all important housekeeping, gardening and admin teams, this makes for a caring and committed home-like setting for those in their care.

The concept of palliative care has become the preferred option for those whose condition is incurable and who are in need of support to assist their pain management or their medicinal care during the final stage of their life. Palliative care eases the pressure and distress of carers and family members who struggle to come to terms with the impending loss of a loved one and who are desperate to ease their discomfort. Most importantly, palliative care centres provide for children and young people who tragically, under normal circumstances, would either be kept in hospital or have no other option than to be admitted to a nursing home.

In practical terms, palliative care centres alleviate the pressure on our hospitals. Over the past eighteen months alone, at Katie Rose Cottage there were 810 bed nights with a total of 51 guests who stayed between one night and 45 nights. It is a sad fact of life that as our community ages the need for services such as those provided by Katie Rose Cottage will continue to increase. That is certainly the case with this facility, with a need clearly being seen now to duplicate facilities on the Sunshine Coast and elsewhere.

The cost to accommodate guests at Katie Rose Cottage is such that there is very significant savings for Queensland Health. As an example, New Zealand has 38 palliative care centres; Queensland, with roughly the same population, has just three. The new government of the United Kingdom has signalled that one of its priorities is community based palliative care, and in Queensland we should take very careful note.

I congratulate Terry Clarke-Burrows and Sue Story who had the foresight to establish Katie Rose Cottage. I ask the Minister for Health to take this information on board and give serious consideration to providing funding that will allow for the establishment throughout Queensland of palliative care centres based on the Katie Rose model.

Downloadable Katie Rose Cottage PDF