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.