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Tōtara Hospice has opened its Rangimārie Suite, a dedicated space for people accessing services under New Zealand’s End of Life Choice Act 2019.
The organisation provides specialist palliative care to people living with life-limiting illnesses across east and south Auckland.
Its new suite has been created within the existing hospice environment and includes two interconnected spaces: a dedicated clinical suite and a comfortable family lounge area.
It provides a calm, respectful, and homelike setting where patients and families can spend meaningful time together at an intensely personal time, the organisation says.
The development forms part of Tōtara Hospice’s wider facilities redevelopment, ensuring its physical environment reflects the needs of patients, families, staff, volunteers, and its communities.
Tōtara Hospice chief executive Tina McCafferty says the opening is an important milestone in its ongoing work to respond compassionately, ethically, and practically to the diverse needs, wishes, and choices of people at the end of life.
“Assisted dying is deeply personal, and people hold a range of cultural, spiritual, and ethical views. We respect that. Our responsibility is to ensure every person is treated with dignity, compassion, and professionalism, whatever choices they make. The Rangimārie Suite sits alongside our wider specialist palliative care services, reflecting our commitment to care for the whole person and their whānau without judgement.”
Tōtara Hospice remains the only specialist hospice in New Zealand to provide a fully integrated voluntary assisted dying service onsite.
Since the End-of-Life Choice Act came into effect, the organisation has learned much from the individuals and whānau it has had the privilege to support, it says.
McCafferty says the suite reflects the hospice’s broader commitment to care spaces that are fit for purpose.
“As part of our wider redevelopment, this suite reflects our commitment to creating spaces that support the way people and whānau experience care, with warmth, privacy, inclusion, and respect. Our buildings matter because the environment in which care is provided can deeply affect how people feel at one of the most significant times in their lives.”
The project has been made possible through the generous support of the End-of-Life Choice Society of New Zealand, whose contribution enabled the completion of the refurbishment and development of the space.
Since the passing of the End-of-Life Choice Act 2019, its work has included engaging constructively with the health sector as services develop and providing information, support and compassion for terminally ill people considering the lawful assisted dying service.
The Society is continuing to advocate for law reform through the End-of-Life Choice Amendment Bill to further support fair, compassionate and equitable access to assisted dying.
Phil Melchior, of the Endof-Life Choice Society of New Zealand, says the Society values the work of Tōtara Hospice and is proud to have partnered on this development.
“Tōtara Hospice has shown thoughtful and compassionate leadership in this area. The Society values the work Tōtara Hospice is doing to support people and whānau with choice, dignity, care, and respect at the end of life. “We are proud to have partnered with Tōtara Hospice on the Rangimārie Suite. This work reflects a shared commitment to ensuring people have clear information, safe support, and a respectful environment when considering their end-of-life choices.”
