Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) is a process which allows a person in the late stages of advanced disease to take medication prescribed by a doctor that will bring about their death at a time they choose. Only people who meet all eligibility criteria and follow the process set out in Victorian law can access voluntary assisted dying medication.
The Victorian Government established the Statewide Voluntary Assisted Dying Care Navigator Service (care navigator service) to provide information, guidance and support about voluntary assisted dying for the community, health practitioners and health services across Victoria.
Care navigators are a team of highly experienced health professionals, including nurses, social workers and psychologists, who act as a central point of contact for people seeking information about or assistance with voluntary assisted dying.
The statewide VAD care navigators are located in metropolitan Melbourne and are supported in the Gippsland region by a regional VAD care navigator (0.4 FTE) based at Latrobe Regional Hospital.
Care navigators work closely with the person, their carers, family and friends, as well as medical practitioners and broader healthcare teams, to tailor support to meet individual needs. For example, they may assist with identifying appropriate referral pathways and connecting people with health practitioners and services that best align with the person’s needs and goals of care.
The service may provide:
Please note: care navigators are available during business hours. There is no after-hours care navigator service.
Enquiries to the care navigator service can be made by anyone, not just the person themselves.
Referrals can be made by GPs, patients, family members and carers, or any other health professional involved in their care.
To ensure the process remains person-led, it is preferred that GPs or health professionals provide patients who request information on VAD with the care navigator contact details.
An email referral to the care navigator service, including patient details and any relevant clinical information pertaining to the patient’s terminal diagnosis and likely prognosis, is welcomed.
The patient must be assessed as eligible by two VAD-trained medical practitioners, one of whom must be a specialist in the patient’s underlying illness (for example, a neurologist for motor neurone disease)
Any doctor who is a Fellow of a college or a vocationally registered GP can undertake the medical practitioner training. The training is available online and can be completed at any time or through a care navigator-facilitated training day.
The Gippsland VAD assessment and permit approval process can take around six weeks or more, due to the low number of VAD-trained medical practitioners available to support the VAD process.
Where there are no suitable VAD-trained doctors locally, patients will need to travel for assessments.
Gippsland Regional VAD Care Navigator Phone: 0448 003 464 Email: vadsupport@lrh.com.au |
State-wide Care Navigator Service Phone: 03 8559 5823 or 0436 848 344 |