Renal Dialysis Services

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (15:21): On Monday 1 July, the first patients received dialysis services at Mount Barker District Soldiers' Memorial Hospital. This is an important milestone in my community. Before the election I doorknocked my community, and I was grateful that many people raised their concerns with me. Often they welcomed me into their homes.

One important issue raised with me was whether haemodialysis services could be delivered locally. If they could be, patients would no longer have to travel to Adelaide or Murray Bridge to receive dialysis. I met and raised the issue with the shadow health minister, now the Minister for Health, Stephen Wade MLC, in the other place. I extracted from him a commitment that if we won the election and formed a new government we would review local dialysis services.

Immediately following the election, I raised the issue with the minister again, and I have worked closely with the minister to ensure this issue remains squarely in focus. It is important to remember that in the 16 years of the previous government the service was not delivered. I commend and thank the Marshall government for its commitment of $800,000 to ensure these services can be accessed locally in the Hills.

Renal dialysis is part of a significant investment by the government in local health care. In the first 15 months of the new state government, we have funded an ongoing contract for 24-hour doctor services, appointed Russell and Yelland Architects to design a new master plan for Mount Barker hospital, made more funds available for paediatrics, and secured funding from the commonwealth for an emergency department upgrade.

I was honoured to attend the Mount Barker District Soldiers' Memorial Hospital with the Minister for Health to visit the first dialysis patients. The first patient to receive dialysis locally was Mr Marty Liebelt. Marty is 77 years old. He is a deeply loved local farmer and community leader. With the assistance of his wife, Betty, Marty has been travelling three times per week well outside the district to receive dialysis. Despite the stress and time spent travelling, Marty and Betty are remarkably resilient and positive.

It was also a great pleasure to visit Mr Keith Woodman and his wife, Jan. Keith and his wife, Jan, have been travelling to Adelaide three times a week for four years to receive dialysis. Jan is an exceptionally capable artist. I also want to recognise in this place John and Anne Taylor, Kevin and Roslyn Tischer, Ernest and Caroline Kennedy, and Allan Menadue.

John and Anne have welcomed me into their home as a friend. For many years, they ran the community store in Nairne. They are deeply community minded. With great care and love, Anne has assisted John with home dialysis. It is a long and difficult process to continually set up, run and clean a dialysis machine and, without any word of complaint, Anne and John have managed John's dialysis needs at home.

Ernest and Caroline Kennedy have also welcomed me into their home, and I am grateful for the time and care they have given to educate me about the needs of dialysis patients and the careful steps they have taken over many years to manage their health care and their family's health care. They are remarkable people. I raise, too, the service of the Tischer family, who I hope will also benefit from local dialysis. Kevin and Roslyn Tischer I know well through the Mount Barker Football Club where I was a trainer, and I am grateful for their family's service to the club and to our community and for the time they have taken to inform and educate me about the importance of local dialysis services.

I raise these names to make plain that this issue is personal for me. That is the nature of country communities. It is certainly the nature of my community. I am very grateful to the government, as I mentioned, and to the health minister, that we have been able to resolve this issue quickly, at least in the context of the time it takes for government departments to make decisions.

Now up to 12 patients each week will be able to receive dialysis treatment in the dual-purpose chemotherapy and haemodialysis unit. I am advised that the chemotherapy unit has been converted into a dual-purpose chemotherapy and haemodialysis unit with three chemotherapy chairs converted to dialysis chairs to provide care locally and ease pressure on metropolitan services. The chemotherapy unit was previously open three days a week, providing low-risk chemotherapy treatments. By converting three of the six chemotherapy chairs to dialysis chairs, we can now provide chemotherapy services six days a week.