Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that November is Lung Health Awareness Month;

(2) acknowledges that lung disease contributes to more than 10 per cent of the overall health burden in Australia, and was the cause of:

(a) 20,376 deaths in 2012, almost 14 per cent of all deaths;

(b) 276,505 hospitalisations in 2011-12, representing 3 per cent of all hospitalisations; and

(c) more than 1.4 million hospital patient-days in 2011-12, over 5 per cent of all patient days;

(3) recognises that at least 1 in 10 Australians will be affected by lung disease;

(4) takes note of the new initiative launched by Lung Foundation Australia (LFA), Just One Breath, which explores the extraordinary things that can be done with just one breath;

(5) shares the message with constituents, friends, family and other loved ones, to get everyone thinking about their own lung health, and encourages them to visit www.justonebreath.com.au and share the champions' stories; and

(6) commends the work of LFA in raising awareness, supporting those affected by lung disease, developing clinical resources and supporting research to find a cure for lung disease.

This motion notes that November was Lung Health Awareness Month, and it also highlights the fact that 10 per cent of the overall health burden in Australia is caused by lung disease—20,376 deaths in 2012 and 14 per cent of all deaths. So it is a very significant illness and one that needs to be taken seriously. There were 276,505 hospitalisations, representing three per cent of all hospitalisations, with more than 1.4 million hospital patient days, in 2011.

People that are living with lung disease quite often feel stigmatised by the fact that they have this illness, and quite often the reason for their not having healthy lungs is falsely attributed to their own behaviour. But, regardless of the cause of a person's lung disease, it is really important that they receive support, from a personal perspective and from a health perspective, in eliminating health costs. Lung disease impacts on people in various ways. They have difficulty walking long distances and are often unable to work or participate in leisure activities. You can see how the failure to be able to participate in work activities has an impact on our economy. Even simple things such as showering can be quite difficult for people living with lung disease. They can have panic attacks, anxiety and depression. Inactivity and inadequate self-management lead to a deterioration in health. These people can quite often become what is commonly referred to as 'frequent flyers' within the health system, simply because they do not get the right sort of rehabilitation that they need.

Last week the member for Hasluck and I launched the Parliamentary Friends of the Australian Lung Foundation, and that was a very interesting and informative launch. At that launch, Professor Jennifer Alison talked to those of us that were gathered there about lung rehabilitation and about one of the lung diseases that is very frequent, COPD. These people that are living with COPD are frequent visitors to hospital accident and emergency rooms and then end up being admitted to hospital. Pulmonary rehabilitation is an eight-week program of exercise and education. It is individually tailored so that the person can live to a safe level of functionality, participate in more community activities and also live within the community. It limits the symptoms of breathlessness so that panic attacks are minimised. They take their medication properly; they coordinate their breathing with movement so they can do their tasks in a more normal way. This all leads to a reduction in infection and reduces the signs of infection at a very early time.

Not only does it improve the quality of life by increasing functional capacity but it keeps people well and out of hospital. By reducing hospitalisation, it reduces the cost to our health system, it reduces the in-patient bed days, it reduces the mortality and it also, as I mentioned, reduces the health costs. The average number of bed days in public hospitals currently is 4.5 and in private hospitals it is 7.7.

There is a fantastic campaign that we also learnt about and which is mentioned in the motion. It is Just One Breath. It was launched in conjunction with Lung Health Awareness Week, and it has tips for good lung health and a simple lung health checklist. Also, music and sporting stars share their Just One Breath stories: Christine Anu, Casey Dellacqua, James Morrison, Melissa Breen, Matt Hall, Archie Roach and Justen 'Jughead' Allport all show what they can do with 'just one breath'.

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