This funding will support the Palliative Care Volunteer Service in the Eurobodalla and a respective service planned for the Bega Valley. It will be used to employ coordinators who will assist in recruitment of volunteers, coordination of meetings, and further volunteer training and education.

Palliative care volunteer services project officer Fiona Sivyer said volunteer coordinators will be an important link between patients and carers receiving end-of-life care, and the clinicians and volunteers providing the specialised support.

"End-of-life volunteers seek to improve quality of life for patients and their carers. The volunteer coordinators will play an important role in supporting volunteers to do this work, as well as ensuring they are getting the support they need."

Ms Sivyer, in partnership with Palliative Care NSW and COORDINARE, helped establish the Palliative Care Volunteer Service in 2020. Starting in the Monaro region, services have since opened in Queanbeyan and the Eurobodalla, and a new service is planned for the Bega Valley.

"We train volunteers in end-of-life care so they can offer compassion, companionship and respite to clients and carers, which helps to reduce distress and improve peoples' quality of life and bereavement experiences," she said.

The permanent funding is a welcomed investment in supporting regional access. While recognising the value of these important volunteer services, Palliative Care Australia CEO Camilla Rowland said more funding was needed across Australia to meet an increase in demand.

Palliative care services across Australia have experienced an 30 per cent increase in demand because people avoided accessing healthcare during the pandemic and lockdowns, Ms Rowland said.

"When COVID started, we hadn't anticipated that people would stop seeing their GP and stop accessing health professionals to be diagnosed with life limiting illnesses.

"That surge is expected to continue for the next two years. We really need to consider how we are going to meet that increase in demand, especially when all the specialist palliative care services are saying to us that they can't keep up with demand."

Australia's ageing and growing population is also expected to compound this issue for future generations, with the Investing To Save report commissioned by PCA and prepared by KPMG finding that demand for palliative care services will increase by 50 per cent between now and 2035, and double by 2050.

The report calls for an additional annual investment of just over $350 million to palliative care services and estimated this additional investment will result in a saving of over $450 million across the broader health care system each year.

Both state and federal government are responsible for funding palliative care services in Australia.

"When we think about how palliative care has been funded, there is usually a contribution from the state and a contribution from the commonwealth as well. The state sometimes administers commonwealth monies," Ms Rowland said.

Funding for palliative care volunteers historically comes from state government.

Ms Rowland is calling for a "nationally coordinated approach" and increase in funding beyond the government's additional $29.6 million announced in the 2022-2023 Budget.

"160,000 people die in Australia every year. And of those, 100,000 have life limiting illnesses," said Ms Rowland.

"Yet only 60,000 of those people access palliative care. That's a concern for us. We want to see there is sufficient funding to ensure that the majority of people, if not all people, can access palliative care when and where they need it."

Ms Sivyer said SNSWLHD was currently seeking expressions of interest for the Volunteer Coordinator roles in the Bega Valley and Eurobodalla.

"These are new roles for the Local Health District. We are currently interviewing candidates for the role in Queanbeyan, but we're keen to start interviewing candidates for the Bega Valley and Eurobodalla in the coming weeks," she said.

If you'd like more information about the roles, contact Jacqueline Clancy on (02) 6150 7576 or Jacqueline.Clancy@health.nsw.gov.au.