Page 4769 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 October 2010
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mastectomies, women can receive Medicare payments for prosthetics but they have to make the payment up front and then be reimbursed. The prosthetics are not cheap and sometimes women cannot afford them.
For a time Bosom Buddies were able to run a loan scheme where they assisted women with the up-front payment, but as this scheme required ongoing fundraising, Bosom Buddies were not able to continue with the service. There is also the issue of follow-up for patients post cancer. Until recently screening was very expensive for women but a new service has been opened by the government that covers this. I have no doubt that many women will be very thankful for this.
Looking at the health services, in particular cancer services, that are provided by the ACT government, we believe that the government is doing a good job overall with regard to providing breast cancer treatment. In fact, there are a number of other areas of the Health portfolio that could require the same level of attention.
Recent research has shown that lung cancer is overtaking breast cancer as the highest cause of mortality for women in both New South Wales and Victoria. This is not yet the case in the ACT but it is a trend that may occur locally. Although the rate of men dying from lung cancer has declined since its high in the early 1980s, women’s mortality rates are only just reaching their peak. This is because women’s smoking rates were at their highest much later than that of men. I should also note that suicide is the highest cause of mortality for women under the age of 34 nationally. That is an area that requires greater attention.
According to our latest Chief Health Officer’s report, breast cancer remains the largest cause of cancer-related death for women at 18.6 per cent of all deaths, followed by colorectal cancer at 13.5 per cent and lung cancer at 12.6 per cent. The Chief Health Officer notes that female breast cancer has shown a statistically significant increase in survival rates. This is because of the good work that has been done in advancing the treatment of breast cancer. Other groups are looking to adopt the same model.
I note that the Prostate Cancer Support Group is seeking support from the government to have positions similar to those of the breast cancer nurses. The support group has put in budget submissions asking for three special prostate cancer nurses to be appointed and funded by ACT Health. Prostate cancer has become the most prolific form of cancer when looking at the rates of cancer for men. That is compared to women as well.
Given that two of the five urologists in the ACT recently retired and as a territory and a nation we are making a move to better utilise the knowledge and assistance that nurses can provide, the funding of three specialist prostate cancer nurses for the ACT would significantly assist those men who are dealing with prostate cancer treatment and require much greater information and assistance in making choices about that treatment and dealing with the side effects.
Possibly many groups are looking to a campaign such as the highly successful Pink Ribbon campaign to use as a model for raising awareness and increasing support. It has been a long-term campaign by many women to get to this point. Breast cancer in
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