Charlotte Varcoe
FUNDING originally earmarked for radiation therapy at the Mount Gambier and District Hospital will be reallocated to expand the Cancer Chemotherapy Unit.
In 2019, $4.3m was allocated by the previous Federal Government to implement a radiation therapy unit at the city’s hospital.
It has since been announced the funding will instead be used to expand the cancer suites after the State Government and the Limestone Coast Local Health Network (LCLHN) decided the original proposal “failed to establish an understanding of the local service.”
In February, the health network confirmed it would not reallocate the funds until further investigations were complete.
LCLHN chair Grant King told The Border Watch in February the network needed to “continue to pursue information relevant to cancer services in a general sense” within Mount Gambier/Berrin.
Now, it has been proposed the funding will expand on the current cancer suites with an independent feasibility study underway for radiation treatment.
A document, obtained by The Border Watch, reveals that the proposal for the upgrade to the cancer suite will include four general consult rooms, two of which will have telehealth available, one enlarged consult room for mobility impaired patients and family groups as well as one flexible consult and treatment room for provision of complementary cancer treatments.
It will also include one multidisciplinary workroom capable of accommodation up to 12 clinical staff, one small staff or respite room and a reception, patient waiting and kitchenette area.
The replacement and expansion of the hospital’s existing nurse call system will also be on the cards to accommodate the new consult areas while also addressing legacy issues pertaining to the aging infrastructure.
The document states the project will expand on the existing infrastructure to “deliver access to seamless multidisciplinary care” for all cancer treatment modalities with a “focus on expanding services” for patients receiving radiation therapy.
“An integrated area would allow for transition of patients receiving radiation therapy services in Warrnambool, Victoria and Royal Adelaide Hospital and dedicated space for radiation oncology clinicians to provide face-to-face and telehealth services as part of the cancer care team,” the proposal said.
“This has not been possible to date due to lack of clinic space, lack of coordination and dispersed care across the city, interstate and within the region.”
LCLHN chief executive Ngaire Buchanan said the expanded focus on cancer care would add to the regional capability, attract further specialist support and “set the foundation for the next state” in providing radiation or other treatments.
It comes following more than 16,000 signatures in support of radiation therapy being implemented at the Mount Gambier and District Hospital was presented to State Parliament yesterday, triggering a Legislative Council review.
Limestone Coast Radiation Therapy Working Group chair Lachlan Haynes said the working group was disappointed to hear the funding had been reallocated.
“If this is the case we will call on the health network to re-evaluate their position and remind them they are meant to be representatives of the community,” Mr Haynes said.
“With the amount of signatures on the petition demanding they believe we deserve radiation treatment, I would like them to reconsider as this is the position of the people in the region and that is where the health network should be.”
Mr Haynes said the working group was not opposed to the independent study, yet the group remained on “its own path”.
“The petition tells us we are on the right path and we believe we should keep moving forward despite the feasibility study,” he said.
“We believe people in the community want this above anything else at the moment.
“We feel we need it, we deserve it and we need the State Government to match it.”
He said at a meeting between the working group and the health network held on April 4, the network agreed to holding off spending the funding until the working group had gone through its process, including the petition.
“The health network is calling the suite proposal a Cancer Care Centre and we believe the greatest care a cancer patient can receive is care at home with their friends and family around them,” he said.
LCLHN provided a statement which said, following a Federal Government decision in 2021 not to fund a proposal for the therapy unit by managing group ICON and in the absence of a detailed business case, the board had “ruled a line through that proposal”.
“The board is now firmly committed to the preparation of a current and independent feasibility study and business case into a regional radiation treatment services,” the statement said.
LCLHN board member Doctor Andrew Saies said there were many “important considerations not yet fully realised” which was an essential part of providing a “safe, effective and financially sustainable regional service”.
Mr King said in the event of a finding from the study, in support of establishing a regional radiation treatment services, the health network board would “work with the Minister, SA Health and the State Government to address the necessary funding and implementation options”.
Member for Barker Tony Pasin said the State Government had “turned its back” on the number of people who had signed the petition, emphasising “not one dollar” of the $4.3m would be spent on improving access to radiation treatment access.
“Not one patient will be spared the inconvenience of travelling to Adelaide or Warrnambool to receive potentially life-saving cancer treatment,” Mr Pasin said.
Minister for Health Chris Picton said the original proposal was rejected by the previous Federal Liberal Government, of which Tony Pasin was a part.
“I welcome the consideration from the Governing Board of the Limestone Coast Local Health Network to look again at this issue and decide that a feasibility study and business case should proceed. Critical to this will be analysis of the clinical safety and quality of such services,” he said.
“The local health board has also decided that the federal funding should be used to expand cancer services in the region, as has been planned since the Liberal Government rejected the proposal some years ago.
“The former State Liberal Government devolved responsibility of providing country health services to local governing boards. I thank the board for their consideration of this issue and look forward to its analysis on the feasibility of such services.”
