Page 1089 - Week 04 - Thursday, 22 April 2021
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abnormalities within the bowel, including cancer, inflammation, bleeding, polyps and adenomas, which are the precursor to bowel cancer.
A diagnostic colonoscopy is recommended if you experience symptoms suggestive of bowel cancer for two weeks or more or if you receive a positive faecal immunochemical test—FIT—result. If you have a genetic predisposition which increases your bowel cancer risk, such as familial adenomatous polyposis—FAP—or Lynch syndrome, you may require screening colonoscopies on a semi-regular basis. People are invited to speak to GPs for individual advice and referral to specialists. People taking their health into their own hands and taking responsibility for their cancer risk are waiting on the government’s waitlist.
Endoscopies and gastroscopies are a relatively simple and effective means of assessing symptoms such as upper abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, reflux, difficulty swallowing and weight loss. They are done by inserting a small camera through the mouth to get a clear view of the oesophagus, stomach and small intestine. The procedure starts with a small amount of anaesthetic and allows the patient to go to sleep, as previously described. The images are, again, displayed on a video screen. This procedure is far more effective in detecting inflammation, ulcers or early cancer.
These procedures are also used to treat some conditions in order to prevent the need for invasive surgery, so they can be a cost-saving measure to the health system. Conditions include gastric polyps that need removing and bleeding lesions, and strictures can be stretched. Gastroscopy is also used to obtain biopsies when tumour or infection is suspected. Gastroscopies are often for people in a great deal of pain and can be life changing. I had the procedure many years ago and it changed my life. I no longer live in constant pain. The pain being treated often means that the burning of stomach lining can be stopped through lifestyle or medication. In turn, people can be free of stomach and intestinal cancer down the track.
Bowel screening tests, when they come back positive, need a colonoscopy to confirm the extent of the cancer and the treatment options. We as a community put so much emphasis on people getting these kinds of investigations done to save lives and avoid unnecessary pain and suffering. If it was your mother or father on the list—sibling, cousin or friend—the size of the current waitlist would frighten you. I am calling on the minister to demonstrate publicly precisely how the wait times for endoscopy will be reduced to a reasonable time frame and to report back to the Assembly by September on exact progress. It is not too much to ask. It is reasonable and measured.
I can tell the minister that Canberrans are getting fed up with the answers, “We are working on it; there are processes underway; something will happen soon,” which we have heard for many years. If it is true that two people have developed cancer whilst waiting for these procedures—and those are the cases that have been reported—then this government should hang its head in shame. What an absolute tragedy.
I also have to say that, since announcing this motion, I have been stopped by people in the street and messaged by people from all over Canberra to tell me that they too are on the waiting list. These are not people with high incomes. Some of them work within this very city block. They are waiting. They are fearful. They do not know
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