Page 4768 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 October 2010
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In recent times the demand for this service has become untenable for the two lymphoedema physiotherapists at the Calvary clinic. The results of this are problematic for patients. In a recent letter to the Minister for Health, Bosom Buddies pointed out that women with symptoms of lymphoedema are advised to seek treatment early, but in some cases they are being asked to wait a number of weeks where in the past they could have accessed the service sooner.
This does mean that there is a potential for conditions to advance before they receive intervention treatment. Women may also wait a number of weeks for appointments to get much needed replacement lymphoedema sleeves. There are very limited other sources for them in the ACT. Due to constantly growing demand, patients cannot get frequent enough laser and other treatment from the lymphoedema physiotherapist. Laser treatment is in fact rarely offered to patients due to the limited number of trained staff and the ever-increasing patient numbers.
Bosom Buddies is also aware of new methods for early diagnosis that are being used in many hospitals in Sydney and other parts of New South Wales. This method is known as bioimpedence and uses special equipment. When ACT Health management were told that this equipment was providing best practice diagnosis, management advised that people would have to most likely look into fund raising options to obtain the equipment. I do hope that a better and more sustainable outcome can be worked out.
I would like to touch on the social determinants of health, because this concept recognises the different health outcomes people from income profiles have. The lower income profiles, of course, are suffering lower life expectancy. Research based on US data has found that the lower income women are less likely to survive breast cancer than their affluent counterparts, most likely because of later diagnosis and lower rates of recommended treatment.
When socioeconomics were considered alone in the research, women in the poorest areas were almost one-third more likely to die during the study period than those living in higher income areas. Although I do appreciate that the US does have a different type of healthcare system to our own, one could expect that the findings could possibly translate to a degree to our local population, especially given the high cost of living we do experience in the ACT.
Being diagnosed with breast cancer is expensive. Women have to pay for an ultrasound, mammogram and two needle biopsies as well as a number of GP visits and specialist visits to receive a diagnosis. If they do not have the funds available to afford this, they may forgo various tests, living with the fact that they may have a breast cancer but cannot afford diagnosis. If a woman has a family history of breast cancer and wishes to be checked prior to the age of 40 in order to be precautionary, it is also sometimes the case that she may not be able to afford some of the screening.
Once a person is diagnosed as having breast cancer there is the associated cost of treatment, doctors appointments, medication during treatment, time off work, childcare and ongoing hormone treatment. With regard to women having
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