Can Voluntary Assisted Dying be integrated within Palliative Care? The NZ Totara Hospice Journey

Tina McCafferty is of Scots Irish decent and has lived in Aotearoa New Zealand for 26 years. She is an activist- advocate for social justice, including equity of access to and outcome from health care. She has worked in clinical, executive management and governance roles across a range of environments and has been CEO of Tōtara Hospice since 2015. Along with her senior team she has led Tōtara to become the most socially progressive Hospice in NZ and the only Hospice to provide a fully integrated Assisted Dying Service as part of contemporary, patient centred palliative and end of life care.Tina holds a Master of Business Administration, a Bachelor of Science and a Post Graduate Diploma in Health Management. She is an internationally accredited coach and a member of the Asia-Pacific branch of the European Mentoring & Coaching Council, the NZ Institute of Directors and the CEO Institute.
During the 9 month exploratory body of work in Ireland by the Joint Committee on Assisted Dying, CEO Tina McCafferty's offer to address the committee was sadly not taken up. The paper she submitted is publicly available on the Oireachtas website. Key links are below.
Debates held over the 9 month period. www.oireachtas...
Relevant to Palliative Care, there was a motion in the Dail 17/10/2024, the views of politicians in the house that day are recorded in the video. The debate, which was brought forward unexpectedly lasted 1,21 hours. www.oireachtas...
This is the link for the full report, the recommendations to Government to legislate for assisted dying, which 9 out of 14 politicians on the committee voted for. Three were against, one was not in the chamber to vote and one abstained. www.oireachtas...