Milton Black said it was through his son’s terminal cancer and the illness of his brother-in-law that he realised  a hospice was urgently needed in the local area.

“My son is dying of bowel cancer, he only has months to live,” Mr Black said. 

“My wife and I are caring for him and will continue to look after him until his last days, but we may need to take him to a hospital at the end.”

Mr Black said should that day come, he would like nothing more than for his son to stay in the local area, in a facility that is designated to provide specialist palliative care. 

Mr Black believes the perfect solution would be to turn Pambula Hospital into a hospice, an idea that he says has received overwhelming support from local residents, cancer patients and nurses. 

He has now written to the NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard requesting for a portion of the $100million allocated in Tuesday’s budget to boosting palliative care services to be reserved for the Far South Coast. 

“The ideal place for a hospice would be the Pambula Hospital where facilities could be bought up to a hospice standard very easily with a minimum budget as the rooms are there to use,” Mr Black said. 

“There are 2918 cancer patients from Batemans Bay to Eden and the only hospice available is in Canberra. It’s not good enough, and with the ageing population in the area we need something more local.”

Mr Hazzard said the NSW palliative care package includes 30 additional nurses and funding for six palliative care specialists for rural and regional areas – the locations yet to be determined.

The region’s nurses and allied health staff will also be able to apply for 300 scholarships to enhance palliative care skills.

Recent data revealed that there were 65,000 palliative care related hospitalisations in 2014-15, a 19 per cent increase from 2010-11 and that a greater proportion of people were accessing palliative care services in hospital.