The Health Minister has welcomed the Limestone Coast Local Health Network board’s decision to endorse “several common-sense” recommendations from the feasibility study on establishing a radiation therapy service in Mount Gambier for the South East.
The study has found that the establishment of a radiation therapy service in Mount Gambier for the South East to deliver cancer care is not “currently a safe, sustainable, or financially viable option”.
Minister Chris Picton said this decision was reached after an independent feasibility study and an extensive consultation process involving more than 500 community members and various stakeholder groups.
“This is a decision made through the local health decision-making system set up under the former Liberal government, which established local health boards to make such decisions locally and not from Adelaide,” Mr Picton said.
“This comprehensive process is in stark contrast to the outright rejection of the proposal under the former Federal and State Liberal governments in May 2021.
“I welcome the LCLHN board decision to endorse several common-sense recommendations within the study to continue to grow local cancer services for the region.”
According to the Ministers, the Malinauskas State Government has committed $202million into the LCLHN in the 2024/25 budget, which is $37million more than the final Liberal budget of 2021/22, an increase of 22.5 percent.
Responding to the report, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional South Australia and Limestone Coast local, Ben Hood said cancer sufferers in desperate need of the service were among a more than 20,000-strong group of South Australians who signed a petition calling for the radiation therapy unit to be built in Mount Gambier to save local patients precious time and money.
Mr Hood said the report’s conclusion was a letdown for the 20,000 people who petitioned for the facility.
“The report raises eyebrows with claims of unviability in the Limestone Coast due to not meeting ‘best practice’.
“Yet, similar operating services in Griffiths, Mildura, and Warrnambool are deemed ‘clinically safe and operationally sustainable,” Mr Hood said.
“Our own health system and the Griffiths radiation service rely on a ‘fly in, fly out’ workforce. So, why does the report’s workforce standard seem so perplexing? Are other regional health services using FIFO not meeting ‘best practice’?
He claimed that regional South Australia continued to be treated as a second-class citizen when it came to healthcare.
“The report dismisses a $1.5m annual ‘top-up’ from government funds as ‘not financially viable.’ Yet, many parts of our state health system need such funds. This $1.5m pales compared to the $40m footy oval in Lyndoch for just 2000 people.
Mr Hood said the Limestone Coast community should be asking the LCLHN and Peter Malinauskas: ‘Is our health simply not worth it?
This article appeared in the Naracoorte Community News.
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