Judith Adams (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to continue on from my colleague the chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs. We have, for the past four years, travelled extensively through the Central Desert region, holding inquiries, whether they be into petrol sniffing or, with the other committee, into regional and remote Indigenous communities.

This motion today is very important in highlighting the problems that are there. The blame game, as has been mentioned, should not be considered because this is about health and people—especially underprivileged people who live in that area where it is impossible to have health services at their doorstep. Patients who have renal disease are very close to their families. Cultural issues come into it but unfortunately, because of the nature of this chronic disease, patients often have to move. And it is not as if they can go home every weekend; that is just not possible. So it is a very difficult thing.

Coming from Western Australia I would like to put forward what the Barnett government is doing in recognising this problem. It has been said that health ministers were going to meet to discuss this, but I have just had word that the Western Australia Country Health Service and health officials from the Northern Territory and South Australia have already met to discuss the shortage of dialysis chairs throughout the central desert region. It should be noted, too, that the Western Australia Country Health Service pays for all the Western Australian patients who receive dialysis interstate—and that includes those who are currently attending dialysis in Alice Springs.

The Western Australia Country Health Service is working on a broader renal plan to expand the number of dialysis chairs in Kalgoorlie because Kalgoorlie is adjacent to the South Australian and Northern Territory borders and often that is the closest place for patients to come to have their dialysis. They are also working with South Australia, who are looking at expanding the number of dialysis chairs, but I have been told that these will probably be located in Adelaide, as services are available at teaching hospitals there. These patients are very sick and when they have to go onto dialysis it is the only option for them, therefore admission to a teaching hospital to start with is very important.

Another meeting of health officials from three states will be held early next month to formulate a plan to expand the services. Also, the Western Australia Joint Planning Forum on Aboriginal Health, which includes representatives from WA Country Health Service, Aboriginal Medical Services, and Divisions of General Practice, meets in Kalgoorlie and is currently looking at the expansion of the Kalgoorlie dialysis unit. The Kimberley dialysis service is also being expanded, with another four dialysis chairs going to Derby. Kununurra are receiving four chairs, and eventually that will be built up to 10 chairs.

Once again, these Western Australian services are utilised by patients coming across the border. So we really do have to work together very closely. The fact that these three health departments are working together is very promising. As we moved around, we did go and visit the Derby Aboriginal Health Service and look at the treatment they were giving their patients. I am delighted that they are going to get another four chairs, because they certainly need it. With the Alice Springs situation, it has been mentioned that perhaps a night shift, if they can get the appropriate staff to run it, would help so that patients can go onto night dialysis. That would be supported by the three states. To go further, we should be working towards peritoneal dialysis and haemodialysis being made available in the regions to reduce load on the facilities in Alice Springs. But, as my colleagues have mentioned, patients and their carers have to be trained in the usage, because they are quite complex. Once again, if you have not got good, clean water and electricity available, of course that is not an option. Another community we visited was Hermannsburg. They have patients who have to travel 170 kilometres into Alice Springs to have their dialysis. The federal government is looking at putting two chairs into Hermannsburg, but they are getting increasingly worried about when their chairs are going to get there. We will have to keep an eye out to see whether that is going to happen.

Mention has been made of the ‘purple house’ in Alice Springs. As a committee we visited that house and saw patients being dialysed. We met with Sarah Brown and her committee who run it. Senator Moore has described Sarah Brown as fascinating. She comes from Queensland. I have never met such a dedicated person. As far as the work she is doing, she has volunteers there to help with the patients, and they run a child-care area to keep their patients and families happy when they have to move to be near their relatives. As I have said, this is a very difficult situation. When you are having dialysis you cannot just up and go home. It just does not work that way. But with the ‘purple house’ and through the arts centre they have raised money to have two chairs at Kintore. So it means that anyone from that community can travel home for weekends and have a holiday. That is really a fantastic service. I am very impressed about the work that is being done with Sarah heading it up. I was invited to go to the centre for rural and remote nurses association conference at Broken Hill last year. Sarah was speaking about the ‘purple house’ at that conference. It was great to catch up with her again and see how much improvement had been made.

The Senate Community Affairs References Committee does a terrific job in working with Indigenous communities. We have certainly been highlighting the fact that dialysis is so important. I am certainly very keen to encourage the Western Australian Country Health Service in all their deliberations and efforts to expand the numbers of those chairs even further. The work that is being done between the three states is very important because a number of the Indigenous communities do not really recognise state borders—and neither should they. For this gentleman that Senator Siewert was speaking about, with the work he has done with the arts, his community is just inside the Western Australian border. It is only 140 kilometres to go to Alice Springs but Kalgoorlie is about 1,800 kilometres away and Perth is probably about 2,000 kilometres away. It is a very difficult situation. He is a new patient. He cannot get to Alice Springs. He can go to Perth. Probably that would be a start. Then he would possibly be able to be relocated back into his community or Alice Springs.