Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) poor kidney health is a serious and growing problem for Aboriginal people in central Australia,

(ii) the Central Australian Renal Study was commissioned as a response to the growing demand for dialysis services in central Australia, the strain on health services, the alarming health outcomes faced by Aboriginal people and the constant conflict between state, territory and federal governments over funding responsibilities,

(iii) the report of the study published on 27 June 2011 is substantially different from the draft report that the George Institute for Global Health had submitted to the Federal Government 5 months earlier,

(iv) the majority of recommendations included in the draft report do not appear in the published report, and

(v) the detailed 'action plan' featured in the draft report does not appear in the published report which includes, instead a drastically-reduced 'potential implementation scenario'; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to show leadership and dedicate resources to implement the Central Australian Renal Services Action Plan, as presented in the draft report, including:

(i) securing agreement and assurance from all jurisdictions regarding patient flow across state and territory borders and the recognition that many patients from the central Australian region will transfer to Alice Springs in accordance with the principle of being able to obtain treatment as close to home as possible,

(ii) implementing a hub and spokes model, with a regional hub service located in Alice Springs,

(iii) identifying sites during 2011 that are suitable for conversion to in-community haemodialysis,

(iv) assessing, during 2011, the suitability of the Substance Misuse Centre in Amata and the Ngaanyatjarra Health Service renal ready room for conversion to in-community haemodialysis facilities,

(v) bringing 15 new satellite chairs online by the end of 2012, along with the phased roll-out of nurse-supported dialysis in communities, with a rigorous assessment of its efficacy, cost-effectiveness and sustainability,

(vi) establishing a chronic kidney disease registry for the cross-border region, and

(vii) developing a renal care package to provide home and community care, similar to the Extended Assistance for Care in the Home package.

Question agreed to.