Regional Health Minister Ryan Park - QT 240619 - Riverina Cancer Care Centre - video Dailymotion

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Regional Health Minister Ryan Park speaks on bulk billing at the Riverina Cancer Care Centre in Wagga during question time Wednesday, June 16.

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00:00for Wagga Wagga. Thanks Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker my question is to the Minister

00:12for Regional Health. Minister, in December last year you committed the

00:17government to removing out-of-pocket costs for radiotherapy and medical

00:21oncology treatment for those attending the Riverina Cancer Centre in Wagga

00:25Wagga. Can you update the House please on progress on this critical issue. Minister.

00:30Again Mr. Speaker and I thank the member for his question. Not only for his advocacy on

00:37behalf of the community that he represents and the Riverina to be honest

00:41but also the work that he's doing in regional, rural and remote health care

00:46with the committee that he chairs. So thank you very very much. Last year I had

00:50an opportunity to speak with a member for Wagga about an issue that concerned

00:55me considerably. The member for Griffith has a member for Murray has a

01:00centre in her electorate in Griffith where the bulk billing of cancer

01:06treatments takes place. Now what was happening in Wagga was exact opposite of

01:12that and it was distorting what I think access to cancer care and cancer

01:17treatment. So Mr. Speaker what we did is start a process of working around how we

01:23might be able to change that and provide bulk billing services for outpatients

01:30attending the Riverina Cancer Care Centre. Now I recently had a look at some

01:35of your mortality and morbidity and epidemiology data and approximately I

01:41won't go exactly but approximately around 2000-2080 or so people in Murrumbidgee

01:48local health district get cancer every year. It's more than 50,000 in

01:56New South Wales but more than 2,000 in the members local health district that

02:02he shares with other members. So this was something very very important to me and

02:06I know it was something important to the member for Wagga. I can update the House

02:11and announce to the House that as a result of his advocacy and the work that

02:18he did on behalf of his community and the opportunity he gave me as the Health

02:22Minister and Minister for Regional Health to work on this issue we have

02:26signed an agreement with the private provider of that service that will

02:31ensure that for his community and communities in the Riverina those

02:36services will now be bulk billed. Mr. Speaker that is a terrific outcome that

02:42is a terrific outcome and the member for Davidson and other members in this place

02:46who have walked through or gone through their own cancer journey will no doubt

02:52tell all of us and inform all of us as does the many of the staff in this space

02:57and the Cancer Council in this space. Out-of-pocket expenses added to a cancer

03:02diagnosis is very very challenging. They're magnified in regional rural

03:07areas where the distance between treatments can be very very significant.

03:10So I want to take this opportunity to thank the member for Wagga for his

03:15advocacy. He's someone who works tirelessly for his community and this

03:21announcement I know will be very very much welcomed in his community.

03:25This is... Member for Wagga Warris. Mr. Speaker I request some additional time for...

03:33The Minister can have additional time. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Cancer is something that

03:39affects all of us and it affects all of our communities. What people may not know

03:45though is that cancer, those receiving treatment in regional rural and remote

03:50New South Wales have some unique challenges. People would have no doubt

03:55talked to people who after cancer treatment feel very unwell, very unwell

04:00for sometimes significant periods of time. People in rural regional remote

04:04areas have to often travel back home and drive long distances. That's something

04:09that those of us in large metropolitan areas don't experience. So when we make

04:14decisions like this we are not just looking at, to be blunt, what is happening

04:19across the state. We're also looking at the unique set of circumstances that

04:24presents in regional rural and remote when it comes to health care and

04:28particularly the rollout of cancer services. Mr. Speaker this is part of a

04:34laser-like focus that we've had on over our first 12 months trying to improve

04:40health care to those living in regional and rural New South Wales. We certainly

04:46have not finished. The Member for Murray and others are terrific advocates like

04:51the Member for Wagga. Terrific advocates for southern New South Wales and that

04:56part of the world. They will continue to agitate and advocate and I

05:01understand that. But we also need to understand, Mr. Speaker, we also need to

05:06understand the unique challenges that some of those communities that they

05:09represent face when it comes to accessing health care that many in

05:14metropolitan areas take for granted given their proximity to those health

05:18care services. I want to thank the Member for Wagga. I want to thank him for giving

05:22me the opportunity to work with him and his community to get this fixed. This is

05:28a great credit to you and your advocacy and I look forward to continuing to

05:32working with you and other members to deliver better health outcomes for

05:37people across rural, regional and remote New South Wales.

Regional Health Minister Ryan Park - QT 240619 - Riverina Cancer Care Centre

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