Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dobell for bringing this motion to the House. It is of course National Stroke Week next week, a very important awareness-raising exercise about the perils and risks of stroke and, obviously, the importance of living a healthy lifestyle and getting regular health checks.

Probably the most important message that this parliament can give people is the FAST test. FAST stands for: face—check the face and if the mouth has drooped; arms—can they lift both arms; speech—is their speech slurred and do they understand you; and time. Time is critical. If you see any of those signs, you should call 000 straightaway. Some of the other signs of stroke might be weakness; numbness or paralysis of the face, arm or leg on either or both sides of the body; difficulty speaking or understanding; dizziness, loss of balance or an unexplained fall; loss of vision, sudden blurring or decreased vision in one or both eyes. These are important signs. We should be aware of them and we should make our communities aware of them, because stroke is an extraordinarily serious disease for Australia.

There are some 40,000 to 48,000 stroke incidents occurring every year in Australia—one every 11 to 13 minutes. The vast majority of these are first-ever stroke, and of those who have reported a stroke 80 per cent were 60 years or older. That said—as the member for Blaxland has so eloquently told the House—it does occur to younger people as well. It is estimated that stroke is responsible for about two per cent of direct healthcare costs in Australia. The estimated lifetime cost of stroke is some $2.14 billion per annum, and the cost of informal care from families and friends is estimated to be $21.7 million in the first year after a stroke.

It is clear that in South Australia we have had some success in reducing the incidence of stroke in the last few years, but it is still the second-leading cause of disease burden after heart disease. The cost of lost productivity and other costs to the community and families is extraordinary. I was interested to hear the member for Hindmarsh talk about the Transforming Health program and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital does have, I think, a very hallowed view in the community's mind, and I understand that. But I actually had to take a family member there a couple of months ago and I had to sit in emergency for about four or five hours. The family member was later admitted. I can tell you that that hospital, as a building, is pretty old and worn out. The nurses and the doctors work extraordinarily hard in facilities that are really not up to scratch. That is one of the reasons why the South Australian government is building new hospitals in South Australia as part of the Transforming Health plan. It is very important that the community understand this. It is much better to go that extra distance to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital—a hospital which is more efficient, will have more doctors and nurses more freely available and will have a dedicated stroke unit—than to go to a hospital that is not going to give you the best treatment of those out there.

It is very important that people understand that the Transforming Health program aims to give better care. One of the areas is the RAH, but the Lyell McEwin and Flinders hospitals are also having dedicated stroke units put in them. You are better off going to a dedicated stroke unit, which has doctors and nurses who do this all day long and have the degree of speciality and technique to give you the best possible treatment. That is the aim behind the Transforming Health plan. It is understandable that people might have concerns about that, but we should not indulge ourselves in a fit of nostalgia about old hospitals, because they are old. Old hospitals can cost people their lives; new hospitals and new facilities save people's lives. So the member for Hindmarsh, with all due respect for him, should remember that when he is running his campaigns.

Debate adjourned.

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