Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges the outstanding work of hearts4hearts and its CEO Ms Tanya Hall in promoting awareness and improved treatment of cardiac arrhythmias;

(2) notes that:

(a) atrial fibrillation affects at least 500,000 Australians and comes with high risk of stroke and heart failure with conventional treatments;

(b) while many cardiovascular conditions have declined in mortality rates in the past years, the mortality rates for atrial fibrillation have almost doubled in the last two decades;

(c) catheter ablation is the acknowledged best practice treatment;

(d) there are long waiting lists for catheter ablation in the public hospital system and the treatment is not listed on the Prostheses List; and

(e) up to 40,000 Australians could benefit from catheter ablation, including 13,000 on private health insurance; and

(3) welcomes the recent announcement by the Minister for Health that the Government will consider changes to Prostheses List processes in order to account for catheter ablation and other non implantable devices, but calls on the Minister to provide further details on this announcement, including a clear time line for implementation.

I rise today to speak on this motion brought by me and seconded by the member for Bennelong, Mr John Alexander, for which I am very grateful. This motion asks the Minister for Health to urgently allow the catheter required for catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation to be listed on the Prostheses List so that it can be rebated and made available for use in private hospitals. As mentioned in the motion, atrial fibrillation affects at least half a million Australians. There can be underlying causes such as congenital heart disease or thyroid disease but overwhelmingly the cause is cardiovascular disease, and the risk of developing atrial fibrillation increases with age.

The effects of atrial fibrillation can be very, very debilitating. Many in this chamber may suffer from atrial fibrillation as they get older, and they may require treatment. It can be very debilitating, particularly in older people. What happens is that the two top pumping chambers of the heart that contract and pump blood to the two bottom chambers don't contract properly because of the multiple electrical stimulation of the heart muscle, so it fibrillates—it vibrates rather than pumps—and this can lead to increasing problems such as heart failure. There is also a high risk of sudden death or embolic stroke from atrial fibrillation, as well as other morbidities, including the requirement for frequent hospitalisation, severe anxiety, loss of work, right-heart failure with oedema and the inability to exercise. As I have already mentioned, it can become much worse as people age.

Atrial fibrillation occurs when there are areas of heart damage in the two atria, as I've mentioned. Until recently, treatment has focused on either electrical cardioversion, where an electric shock is given to the heart while someone is sedated to try and stop the heart beating in the hope that it will return to normal beating function as the shock wears off, or treatment using medication, such as antiarrhythmic medications, often combined with anticoagulants, or blood-thinning medications, such as warfarin. The newer accepted best practice for treatment of atrial fibrillation is the use of a catheter to ablate, either by freezing or burning, the little areas in the atria that cause the frequent electrical stimulation. This is accepted worldwide as best practice, and is now performed in public hospitals many thousands of times every year.

However, the catheter required for catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation is not listed on the Prostheses List; it is not implantable—it is not seen as an implantable device. It is a removable device, and is therefore not listed on the Prostheses List and cannot be rebated by private health funds when it is used in a private hospital. This may leave private patients many thousands of dollars out of pocket. It is an area of active discrimination against people who have private health insurance. At this time, when the minister is looking at ways of trying to improve the efficiency of private health insurance and the Australian people's demand for it, this is one area where he could act immediately to provide world's best practice for private patients. I urge him to do so.

This is a little bit personal for me. My own father had atrial fibrillation and was treated with warfarin, an anticoagulant. Unfortunately, because there is often difficulty controlling the dose, he had a haemorrhagic stroke which left him physically disabled for the last 10 years of his life—although, thankfully, not cognitively disabled. This is clearly an area of discrimination against people who have private insurance, and I urge the minister to act as soon as possible to improve this. I thank the member for Bennelong for seconding my motion. I also thank the other speakers: Maria Vamvakinou, the member for Calwell; Michelle Landry, the member for Capricornia; Tony Zappia— (Time expired)

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