Health burden too heavy: Community demands local dialysis unit

Making more than a three-hour round trip to Mount Gambier Hospital and spending five hours on a dialysis chair each week is a tough routine for Ros Tregoweth.

Living on a farm near Lucindale with her husband and children, Ms Tregoweth undergoes kidney dialysis to manage her condition.

She follows a mixed dialysis regime—performing peritoneal dialysis at home six nights a week and making a weekly trip to Mount Gambier for haemodialysis.

Her demanding travel schedule, which includes navigating long distances and avoiding wildlife like kangaroos, has pushed her to join others in advocating for local dialysis services to be offered at Naracoorte Hospital.

Dialysis patients and other stakeholders are urging the government to establish a dialysis unit and offer renal services at Naracoorte Hospital.

For many already struggling with health issues, the financial and emotional toll of travelling long distances for treatment is becoming unbearable.

Frustration is mounting over the lack of renal services at Naracoorte Hospital—especially after the facility received an $8 million investment from the state government to ensure it is “fit for purpose” and capable of delivering the high-quality care the local community needs and deserves.

In this edition of Hard Talk, The [Naracoorte] News spoke with multiple stakeholders, including patients, who expressed a shared sense of urgency for renal care services to be made available locally.

Ms Tregoweth has had kidney issues for 20 odd years, but her kidneys failed in 2023, and she had to go on “dialysis pretty quickly”.

“I had to stay in Adelaide because they did not have a chair for me at Mount Gambier at that time, so I had to stay in Adelaide for about six to eight weeks before I could come back to Mount Gambier and start having dialysis three days a week,” she shared.

Then, Ms Tregoweth said she had an operation that enabled her to do peritoneal dialysis at home.

“Obviously, I had to wait until that matured, and then I started doing peritoneal. I was trained up in Adelaide. My husband and I were in Adelaide for a week, and they taught us how to do peritoneal dialysis at home.

“So, I started doing that, which is much better so that I don’t have to drive to Mount Gambier three days a week. I do peritoneal dialysis six nights a week at home, and then on a Wednesday, I go to Mount Gambier and have a four-hour session on the machine.”

Ms Tregoweth said it would be much better if the treatment was offered in Naracoorte, saving her driving time of over an hour one way.

“It’s a long day, and by the time I usually get on, you are looking at five hours on the chair and a good two and a half hours driving back home. Obviously, the kangaroos at this time of the year are really bad—you have to go fairly slow.”

Hopeful of life beyond the dialysis chair, Ms Tregoweth is also awaiting a transplant. Her husband is the donor.

“My husband is hoping to give me one of his kidneys. It’s happening fairly soon, but you just don’t know, and we have been waiting for (a) long (time). They only do one (transplant) a week in Adelaide.

Other than that, she said she was aware of other patients who travelled to Mount Gambier three days a week and lived further away from her.

“Like there’s a gentleman who lives closer to Padthaway, and he is driving a good hour and a half to two hours to go, and he is a farmer and is trying to run a farm.

“There is another man I know who lives near the Hynam-Apsley way, and he is also running a farm, and it’s very difficult.

“I am lucky I don’t work because when this all happened, I stopped working.”

Ms Tregoweth said there were so many people in the area who could be going to Naracoorte and not having to go to Mount Gambier if the services were offered locally.

“I know the staff down there (Mount Gambier Hospital) are often having to do three shifts to fit everybody in because they have so many people. They travel to get stuff as well. I know this because I have spoken to the staff.

“They (hospital staff) think it would be fantastic if Naracoorte (hospital) could take a bit of pressure off them by having a dialysis unit, even if it was two or three chairs—it would make a huge difference.”

She said this would certainly help all these patients who need to travel so far three days a week for treatment.

“Naracoorte is quite central, so it would be great to have the services here.”

Pressure on individuals, family

Naracoorte Lucindale mayor Patrick Ross has joined the call for an on-site dialysis service at the Naracoorte Hospital, saying this should be a priority of the Limestone Coast Health Network (LCLHN) and the Health minister.

“Having personal knowledge of diabetic sufferers within my community, I understand the stress that it puts on not only the individual but also the immediate and often extended family with their need for constant life-giving treatment, which often takes them away from their loved ones to have dialysis,” Mr Ross said.

He said the challenges dialysis patients faced took them not only away from their family but also from work for extended periods on any day.

“…which means their employment suffers along with their loss of productivity for the business in which they work; all of this could be remediated by having on-site dialysis at the Naracoorte Hospital.”

Mr Ross said living and working in regional South Australia should not mean that further imposts are placed before you just because you are suffering from an illness that requires ongoing and specialised care.

“Diabetes, its prevention, management, and the need for regular ongoing daily treatment are major issues in our modern society.

“The ever-present rise in the cost of living with the added burden of travelling long distances to get the health care you need must be a priority of the Limestone Coast Local Health Network as well as the minister for Health.”

Constituents want renal services

Independent member for MacKillop, Nick McBride, stated that his Naracoorte electorate office had received numerous complaints and letters from concerned residents, all calling for dialysis services to be made available at Naracoorte Hospital.

“We have heard from a number of constituents from MacKillop that require these types of services, and we have also heard firsthand the difficulty of getting down to Mount Gambier for renal dialysis,” Mr McBride shared in an interview.

He emphasised how “really difficult” the situation was for patients, especially those without family support.

“The time commitment, the struggle to find volunteers when loved ones aren’t available—or for those who don’t have family at all—is significant,” Mr McBride explained.

He said patients were burdened with an hour-long trip each way, the stress of waiting in queues, trying to get slotted into the schedule at Mount Gambier Hospital, and then making the exhausting journey home—all of which added up to a heavy toll.

Mr McBride said in some cases, dialysis was required up to three times a week, making the situation even more demanding, especially for older patients, those with severe conditions, or anyone facing limited transport options.

“I am very much supportive of this new big plan that the state government is developing for Naracoorte—they have already spent $250,000.”

Given Naracoorte’s central location and its strong integration with surrounding health units—from Bordertown, Keith, Kingston, and Millicent to Penola and Lucindale—he said it made strategic sense to establish a renal dialysis service here.

Mr McBride said these hospitals and communities were connected to Naracoorte, and if dialysis services were available locally, they would likely refer patients to Naracoorte, strengthening the region’s healthcare network and improving access for many in need.

He said another factor that needed attention was the age of the Naracoorte Hospital.

“It is having an upgrade. It had a $4 million upgrade during the Marshall-Liberal government, and we are seeing an $8 million upgrade by the Malinauskas government between 2022 and 2026.”

Mr McBride said the current $750,000 funding allocation was focused on assessing exactly what services the Naracoorte Hospital should offer, identifying community needs, and ensuring resources were used wisely and effectively—not wasted or left idle.

Based on the information received and the numerous letters submitted to his office, he said it was clear there was a genuine and pressing need for renal services at Naracoorte.

Naracoorte residents deserve critical health services

Shadow minister for Regional Health Services Penny Pratt said the life-saving dialysis treatment was needed in Naracoorte.

“It is hard enough battling a chronic illness without the added stress of a two-and-a-half-hour round road trip multiple times per week (to Mount Gambier),” Ms Pratt said.

She said it was alarming to see a “real decline in services to the regions”.

“We know that workforce shortages and a lack of specialist services continue to plague the Limestone Coast,” Ms Pratt shared.

She said being able to access services locally kept the public healthy and out of emergency departments.

“…this should be the government’s priority.

“Minister (Chris) Picton said in parliament in October 2024 the government would seek opportunities to add dialysis chairs to the network; however, six months later, these patients are still required to travel to Mount Gambier or Adelaide for treatment.”

The Limestone Coast Local Health Network (LCLHN) did not respond to specific questions asked by this newspaper but instead issued a brief two-paragraph statement in response.

“To ensure we continue to provide high-quality care with improved access to services, we are finalising our first region-wide Clinical Services Plan and a 10-year roadmap for a regionally connected health network,” LCLHN said.

“Patients are currently able to receive treatment at the Mount Gambier and Districts Health Service. Four patients within the Naracoorte catchment received renal dialysis at Mount Gambier in March 2025.”

This article appeared in The Naracoorte News, 14 May 2025.