Rural Mobile Bone Density Service

Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:50): My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the government upgrade the travelling bone density bus to make it accessible for those with mobility issues? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr McBRIDE: The rural mobile bone density service for people living in rural South Australia visits on average 18 towns a year. On its website, it says its goal is to make the service accessible to country patients who find it difficult to travel to the city. However, access to the bus via two steps and a handrail is making the service unusable for people who can't climb steps.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:50): I thank the member for MacKillop for his question, and I note his significant passion about these issues in his own local electorate. I note that he has raised these with me, and this particular issue as well, and he has raised it with the service involved, the Central Adelaide Local Health Network.

As the member outlined, SA Medical Imaging, which forms part of CALHN, operates the bone density bus through their Department of Nuclear Medicine PET and Bone Densitometry at the RAH. It is one of the largest providers of bone density testing in Australia. It has operated for some 30 years and scanned some 35,000 patients, visiting 15 to 18 regional sites a year for one to four weeks. It provides around 1,500 annual scans per year. The main focus is to screen people for potential osteoporosis and requires a referral from a GP.

I am aware of the issue the member has raised in that to gain access to the bus—which I am advised is about the size of a mid-size caravan and has obviously been operational for some time—there are three steps to enter the bus and then there is another step to stand on in the scanning process. That has become a barrier for a number of patients, particularly the constituent of the member for MacKillop, who sought to gain access.

The health service has looked at this, as to whether there is an easy way that this can be modified. That has not been identified yet. There is also an issue in the way the bone density bus operates, in that it is staffed by one staff member, the nuclear medicine technologist, who provides that service. To provide additional access for people with mobility issues would likely require additional staffing; that would have to be considered. This is going to continue to be considered over time, if there's some modifications or, down the track, if there's new bus arrangements to be put in place.

In the short term, for anybody who would be impacted in not being able to access the bus, of course there are fixed sites where people can access this service. We also have the PAT system that can help people from regional South Australia to access those fixed sites if need be. I appreciate the member's question. It will continue to be examined. Obviously, we would want all of our health services to be as accessible as possible. This is one where there are some particular limiting factors that have made that difficult, but it is a worthy consideration for the future.