Lack of medical specialists an issue for South West residents seeking health care as State election nears

A lack of medical specialist and long wait times for treatment are impacting the health of South West residents, with many hoping political promises to improve the healthcare system would be kept following the next week’s State election. With ambulance ramping, poor hospital facilities and medical staff retention making headlines across the State in recent years, the South West was not immune to the issues. One resident told the Times she had been struggling with the Bunbury health system since her son was born with hypoglycemia — a blood sugar condition. The mother, who did not want to be named, said her young son had been described as “medically complex”. “I have to rely on fast acting glucose gel because he doesn’t eat a lot, but every time we’ve actually been hospitalised with severe hypoglycemia we just get told to monitor it at home and keep doing what I’m doing,” she said. The family live 25 minutes from Bunbury Regional Hospital — without any traffic or roadwork delays. However, the mother said she would rather make the trip to Busselton Health Campus or Perth Children’s Hospital, adding time between incident and treatment. “I rely heavily on calling my own mum for advice and it’s extremely disappointing I have no trust or faith in our system down here,” she said. “They test a bit more up there (at PCH) and they’re not so quick just to kick you out. They’re a lot more thorough. “We don’t really have a big range of paediatricians here that actually specialise in anything more than general paediatrics. It’s extremely disappointing considering we might be regional, but we’re not very small.” Her frustration is matched by fellow South West resident Jayde Leisfield. She said she has battled with long wait times for mental health experts during her ADHD diagnoses with no specialist in the region to see. “I had to actually go to Perth to seek help and therapy because there was just no one down here for mental health” she said. “The GPs were really good, they listened and I had about six referrals sent out locally which were all rejected. Ultimately I had to go to Perth to be able to be seen and it’s the same thing with actually getting medication because you need a psychiatrist.” While Perth specialists have been providing sufficient care for Ms Leisfield, she said it had been challenging to maintain appointments with a four-hour round trip. “With the fuel and not getting much back from Medicare, it was a very big chunk of my time and my money and lot of work that I had to take off to actually get the help I needed,” she said. “The feedback I get is very much the same of there’s no help out there. People have tried multiple places but there’s just no access locally. “I’ve kind of given up on going locally because I’ve just tried for so many years and never had any success so I didn’t want to put myself through that again.” Travelling to access care and the expenses which come with it are two further sore points for another Bunbury resident, who wanted to remain anonymous. Having been diagnosed with multiple chronic illnesses, she feels Perth was her best option for quality health care. The mother of two is calling on more funding for the Patient Assisted Travel Scheme. “If I could suggest that money could go anywhere as a priority, it honestly would be towards PATS,” she said. “PATS needs to be much more accessible . . . and there needs to be a feedback system that informs the consumer if their claim has been successful or not. “Currently the minimum distance from the patient’s home to the destination to be able to claim on PATS is 100km, I really think it should be less. A 200km round trip is massive and inaccessible for many people.” Emily Pepper, another South West resident who has found more confidence in metro-based care, backed that call. Ms Pepper’s daughter Evani was born omphalocele — a birth defect of the abdominal wall. “I was required to travel multiple times a month to the hospital in Subiaco for all health appointments,” she said. “Towards the end of my pregnancy I was also required to stay within a certain kilometre radius to King Edward Memorial Hospital, meaning I was eligible to stay at Ronald McDonald House Nedlands.” Evani spent three months in the NICU at Perth Children’s Hospital, Ms Pepper said, but was eventually discharged by needed to stay close to a specially trained medical care unit for a further six months. “I was isolated from all family, friends, my step son and partner too, this meant that it had a poor effect on my mental health and in turn I was mandated to seek help from a psychologist linked with King Edwards,” she said. “Since we’ve been able to come home she (Evani) requires to wear a compression garment and for the measurements and fitting of this she needs to see Occupational Therapy Lymohoedema. “Bunbury does not have any specialist like this so we are required to travel to Perth regularly for these appointments and this will continue for the next four years, until her surgery. “We had issues with PATS not covering the fuel expenses or accommodation stay when we need to see Occupational Therapy Lymphoedema due to them not covering OT appointments.” With voters set to head to the polls next week, health has been a focus of the three major parties. WA Labor is promising to invest $13.8 million into establishing a mental health child and adolescent acute care and response team in Bunbury, but refused to back a Margaret River hospital upgrade, telling residents to drive to Bunbury instead. The State Liberal party is promising more paramedics across regional WA and has pledged $60m to start and finish the Margaret River Hospital expansion in its first term of government if elected. WA Nationals have also committed $400m to a regional health infrastructure plan and a $100m Patient Assisted Travel Scheme expansion proposal.