Only a few weeks to go till VAD is implemented on 1 January 2023. We look forward to a safe and compassionate pathway to VAD for those eligible.

DWDQ Annual General Meeting

DWDQ held our AGM on 31 October in Brisbane City Library. Many apologies to those who logged into Zoom to take part in this meeting. We were dogged with IT problems and we’re really sorry it was a frustrating experience.

After years of campaigning, in this past year we focussed on how we can help the Queensland VAD Act move into practice. We’ve been pleased to work with the Qld Health VAD Implementation team, and will keep on liaising with them and helping to get the message out to all Queenslanders. Our volunteer committee was unanimously re-elected:

President: Jos Hall
Vice-president: Jeanette Wiley
Co-vice President: Sheila Sim
Secretary: Phyllis Wagner
Treasurer: Anyse Horman
Committee Members: Dr Sid Finnigan, Lynn Robson, Cynthia Workman

Our President Jos Hall acknowledged the invaluable contributions of Dr Heather McNamee, who has been appointed to the VAD Practitioner Eligibility Panel, and Jen Blake, whose dad John Ancliffe was the public face of DWDQ in the last period of his life, with great support from Jen and her family.

Our Treasurer Anyse Horman presented the Profit and Loss Statement for 2021-22. We were fortunate to receive donations from other States to help with campaigning and media costs. Anyse stressed that we will struggle to meet our expenses in this current year, and she’s preparing a draft trimmed-down budget. The big costs are unavoidable, e.g. data base, public liability insurance.

Qld VAD Implementation Conference

This day-long event was held on 29 October. About 500 people attended in person, and 1000 watched the livestream - including the DWDQ Committee! It was a full, rich day of presentations.

Here are a very few highlights:

• Keynote speaker Andrew Denton went straight to the heart of the matter and acknowledged that delivering VAD as a doctor might be challenging, confronting – and fulfilling.
• Dr Liz Reymond, Director of the Q-VAD Support and Pharmacy Service was equally realistic that doctors may vary in their degree of willingness to participate in VAD. Will it make a difference if a doctor cared for this patient and their family for many years? Or if they are the only practitioner in their practice who’s interested in VAD?
• Prof Ben White, QUT, gave an insight into the development of the doctors’ training package. Australia is unique in making training mandatory. The 12 online modules took 9 months to develop, with 700 pieces of feedback, and encourage safe, high-quality care.
• The afternoon session brought us a panel of VAD providers from Victoria and W.A. All of them spoke movingly about the impact of being privileged to help patients die calmly, surrounded by the people they love. Every doctor affirmed that being involved in VAD had helped enhance their own clinical practice.
• Speakers from many Queensland health areas gave us a picture of how they’re preparing for 1 January. To name just two - in Cape York Peninsula/ Torres Strait Island region, they’re integrated into existing health services and are slowly and respectfully beginning a conversation about VAD with their indigenous patients…. and in the Darling Downs they’re working on how to support deaths at home, and to create bereavement supports.

The day was a great showcase for the extraordinary thought and care that’s gone into planning VAD services state-wide. A full recording of the day is available to view by clicking here.

Qld Health is also running a series of webinars, “Lunch and Learn”, mostly aimed at helping all health workers understand their role once VAD is available. Each lunchtime session has a different focus and is targeted at specific work groups. The series runs from 15 November – 13 December and the webinars will be posted on the VAD Implementation web-page (see link above).

Would you like to hear more about VAD in Queensland?

DWDQ Committee members are more than happy to be invited to talk to any group or association you’re involved in. If you’d like to hear more about VAD in Queensland, just send an email to: [email protected] and we will be in touch. We look forward to hearing from you.