Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to begin today by reminding everyone that tomorrow is Diabetes Australia's 18th Walk to Work Day. Most of us will be back in our electorates, so let us make a point of encouraging our staff to take a stroll for their physical, social and mental wellbeing. This Saturday, 14 November, is World Diabetes Day. The theme for this year is 'act today to change tomorrow,' highlighting the importance of healthy eating in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes.

We all know the risk of contracting type 2 diabetes can be minimised by healthy food choices and an active lifestyle, but, unfortunately, type 1 insulin-dependent diabetes, an autoimmune disease of the pancreas, is neither preventable nor curable. Diagnosis can be made at birth, but it is most commonly made in childhood. Type 1 diabetes requires lifelong medical treatment, and many will suffer from complications such as kidney and heart diseases, nerve damage and eye disorders prematurely. Type 1 diabetes is managed by regular monitoring of blood glucose levels and injections of insulin at a dosage and frequency tailored to the individual.

In my electorate of O'Connor, 8,500 people are registered on the National Diabetes Services Scheme, making up 4.5 per cent of the electorate population. Over 700 of these suffer from type 1 diabetes, many of them children and young adults. This is an age group that may eat erratically, have dietary indiscretions that their parents are unaware of and have less predictable exercise regimes. A mere birthday party, sports day or sleepover can send blood glucose levels into chaos.

I have met many parents in my electorate extolling the virtues of continuous glucose monitoring, or CGMs, and advocating for them to be included in the NDSS. For those unfamiliar with CGMs, a tiny sensor is inserted under the skin and replaced every six days. A transmitter then relays blood glucose readings to a receiver or a pump that gives off an alarm when blood glucose levels are abnormal. Some pumps can suspend the insulin infusion rate if glucose levels are too low and resume when glucose levels normalise. Newer pumps under trial can respond to high blood glucose by increasing the infusion rate of insulin. A CGM system costs between $1,000 and $2,500 to buy and sensors cost approximately $75 to $100.

The government currently provides subsidies under an insulin pump program of up to $1.5 million per year and most private health insurers will cover the cost of pumps but not CGMs or sensors. In my electorate, I have been made aware of some extreme cases of need for the subsidisation of CGMs and sensors.

The Wasmann family of Darkan have three boys with type 1 diabetes. Despite having one new CGM and two older versions, the cost of sensors prohibits the use of CGMs on all three children all of the time. The youngest wears his CGM 100 per cent of the time but sensors are used for up to 10 days rather than the recommended six. This spares sensors for the older boys to use when they go to birthday parties, sleepovers or sporting events. The Wasmann boys will ultimately leave home for further schooling and university opportunities not available in a regional area.

This is a real concern for the future and it leads me to the story of another constituent and resident of Katanning, my home town, Susan Hope-Blythe, who is a strong advocate for the inclusion of CGMs on the NDSS. Susan and her husband Stephen bought a CGM for their daughter Lauren, so she could take up a prestigious scholarship at St Hilda's Anglican Girls School in Perth. This CGM allows Lauren to play sport, go on camps and lead as normal a life as other girls her age. Most importantly, it gives her family and the school the peace of mind that Lauren will be safe from the life-threatening situation called hypoglycaemia, where the blood glucose plummets and coma and death can ensue.

In 2011, a boarder at Santa Maria College in Perth, Laura Gray, suffered a hypoglycaemic crisis while asleep, and was found dead in her bed. Individuals like Laura are known as hypo-unaware. They do not realise their levels are low until it is too late. CGMs in these cases save lives. They do the job no amount of pin-pricking can do, detecting hypoglycaemia in a patient who is asleep.

Another O'Connor family, the Slaters from Esperance, have a daughter who is hypo-unaware and a heavy sleeper. Rebecca does not wake up when her device alarm goes off. Up until now, the family has been unable to afford a CGM that incorporates suspension and resuming of insulin infusions. In the last six months, Rebecca has been included in a CGM trial that has resulted in a long-term normalisation of her glucose levels. This will reduce her chances of the complications which would cost the health system dearly into the future.

Tomorrow, Minister Ley will announce a new National Diabetes Strategy for 2016 to 2020. I know she has listened to the stories of families like these mentioned and is sympathetic to their situation. The minister is committed to finding a way for new technologies for monitoring and treating type 1 diabetes to become more accessible. I look forward to a future where children and young adults with type 1 diabetes can live a long healthy life just like their unaffected counterparts.