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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-04 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Regional Radiation Treatment Services

Ms PRATT (Frome) (15:06): Delays, diversions and disappointment, that is what the Labor government has delivered to health patients in the Limestone Coast and regional South Australia: delays on critical infrastructure and regional health, diversions of funding where they rob Peter to pay Paul and disappointment for rural communities who are begging for more health services closer to home.

If you want to know what disappointment looks like, it is here with us in the chamber today in the human form of the Limestone Coast Radiation Treatment Working Group. I acknowledge those who have travelled at their own cost from the Limestone Coast today with one collective focus. They represent over 16,000 people who have physically signed a petition calling for the delivery of radiation therapy treatment in Mount Gambier, our state's second biggest city. This service, if delivered, would greatly assist a population catchment area of about 60,000 people, from Kingston to Keith. It must follow that it would alleviate pressure on city hospitals.

Sadly, at least 200 people a year across the South-East are diagnosed with cancer that requires radiotherapy treatment, and they have two choices: they can travel to Adelaide, which is a five-hour trip one way, or they can access a Victorian service, which is three hours in the other direction. This treatment only takes 15 minutes, but it is every day for many weeks—and that is the rub.

If you live in the city, you can get it done at the start or the end of the day, or you can get it done in your lunchbreak and return to work, but for country patients it requires a personal and financial cost that some just cannot afford. Factor in the loss of income, accommodation, cost of travel, meals, childcare arrangements (and do not forget the pets) and isolation from loved ones, and for some it is just too much. Instead, they may decide to have surgery or, tragically, to live with the disease until the inevitable happens.

Cancer does not discriminate based on where you live and nor should access to treatment. Investing in regional health is an acknowledgement that every life matters, irrespective of where one resides. It is a commitment to bridging the gaping disparities in healthcare access that exist between urban centres and remote areas. It is an affirmation that the postcode of your birth should not determine your chances of survival.

A key barrier to radiation therapy is the distance from the treatment centre. I cannot praise highly enough the state-of-the-art accommodation services at the Cancer Council Lodge on Greenhill Road following a $10 million investment by the former Liberal government. The Cancer Council has been able to build and deliver a $30 million asset back to patients with a 120-bed facility, which provides comfort and support to those who need it most as they battle this insidious disease.

The council has shared heartfelt stories of patients who have been able to stay at the lodge away from home and out of necessity—some for over 12 months. I am constantly contacted by country people from all corners of the state who have been diagnosed with cancer and who are calling for better access to a variety of cancer treatments.

In my own electorate of Frome, Clare Hospital has a dedicated chemotherapy suite but offers no services, as it cannot supply or secure a qualified nurse. If you live on the West Coast, you have an even greater distance to travel to access cancer treatment in the city. Access to transport is yet another inequity that exists. Many people are too sick to drive, unable to afford the fuel or without family and friends to assist them.

I applaud the work of the 12 regional community passenger networks and the volunteers who provide compassionate assistance at the local level for many people who are accessing health appointments. I have said publicly that I welcome the doubling of the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme—something that has been long overdue—but our state government needs to ensure that where clinicians are sending country patients to the city to health services they are not unnecessarily disadvantaged or out of pocket.

We must do better for country patients by way of better access to a higher standard of health care closer to home. In times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 global pandemic, the importance of a robust regional health system did become glaringly apparent. While COVID-19 has had a terrible impact on our health system, it has also taught the health sector to innovate, re-imagine and redesign what should be possible and available in country health. We must learn from these experiences and build a resilient health care and network capable of standing future challenges.

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