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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-31 Daily Xml
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Brain Tumour Support Coordinator

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (14:18): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. What does the minister say to Chloe? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mrs HURN: Chloe's husband, Dave, was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour in 2021 and died seven months later. Chloe became her husband's primary carer in that time whilst also caring for their two young children, aged four and three months. Chloe said:

Throughout our whole journey we had numerous questions of what do we do now and what are the next steps?

She went on to say that a brain tumour coordinator would have eased some of that burden as she managed her husband's appointments, medication and daily care.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:18): I would say to Chloe that I would be very happy to meet with her and to discuss any way in which we can improve our healthcare services. We know that there is a lot of work that needs to happen to make sure that we can improve the delivery of health care in South Australia, not only in terms of urgent care that people need through our emergency departments but also in terms of support for people who have cancer.

Already, we have put in place a number of different measures to support people with cancer. We are in the process of hiring additional lung cancer nurses because that had been identified as an area of need, where we needed additional support for people. Already, we are working on the plans for a new Modbury cancer centre because people in the north-eastern suburbs did not have local access to cancer services in their area, close to home. So this is a government that is very keen to improve the cancer care services that are being provided.

As I have said previously, we are also working in terms of the development of a statewide cancer plan because we do not currently have a cancer plan that is in operation, and the last one expired I think seven or eight years ago. So there is a clear need in relation to addressing improvements for people with cancer but also for planning for the future of cancer in this state.

I would be very happy to meet with Chloe. If the member for Schubert is able to write to me and raise this issue with me, then I can certainly look into it. Up until today, I haven't received a letter in relation to this matter. I would be very happy to meet with Chloe and to talk to her about the awful situation that she, her husband and her family have gone through. I think all of us in this house know of people in our electorates, or our families or our friends, who have gone through cancer, and it is absolutely an awful situation. I am sure that was the case with Chloe as well.

As the government, if there are things that we can do to improve that situation, whether it is at government level or working with our healthcare services and our clinicians about how that process can be improved, then we are very keen to do so because we need to have our healthcare services patient-centric and making sure that they are focusing on how the patient can be cared for and can navigate through the system in a very difficult time. Clearly, that does not always happen. That coordinator has not been put in place, as the member for Schubert suggests, previously, and I am very keen to look at what else we can do to improve the situation for people such as Chloe and her family into the future.

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