Page 3513 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 September 2019
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efficient services are provided. I was very pleased to stand up with Senator Seselja the other week to open the first of those two new linear accelerators.
During that period of these linear accelerators being replaced, improvements in treatment capacity have been achieved by extending treatment times to 7 pm, recalling clinicians from indirect roles to provide treatment where appropriate, improving patient scheduling, improving the planning process and ensuring that the downtime on machine maintenance is limited and that patients of course are triaged to ensure that those who will benefit most from early treatment are treated first.
I commend the staff who provide radiation oncology and radiation therapy services at the Canberra Region Cancer Centre for the work that they have done to ensure that patient flow through the centre continues while we replace two linear accelerators with state-of-the-art technology. I think Mrs Dunne’s continued campaign to scare Canberrans about access to radiation therapy is sorely misplaced.
I place on the record that more patients were treated in 2018-19 than in 2017-18 and that we will soon have the second of those state-of-the-art linear accelerators replaced. Once all those four machines are operational, by mid-2020, wait times will return to within national benchmarks. But in the meantime patients are triaged to ensure that those who require urgent treatment receive that treatment. Mrs Dunne is well aware of that.
In relation to the motion before us today, of course cancer treatment and treatment for other serious diseases such as rare genetic conditions can have a significant impact on a young person and their family’s lives. That is part of the reason it is so important not to conduct scare campaigns about what might be available to them. Younger patients undertaking radiation therapy, chemotherapy, surgery or anti-hormonal treatments for cancer and other serious diseases—and people generally—are often required to make life-changing decisions in a short time during a very stressful period of their lives.
Fertility preservation can be highly valuable for patients at a reproductive age. A variety of options are available, depending on the illness, age, gender and relationship status of patients. As Ms Cheyne’s motion notes, preservation options should be considered as part of a holistic approach to treating patients. But this is not without challenges. Fertility and future decisions about children may not be something a person has considered in their life, let along having to make critical decisions about their fertility in often a very short time frame, during a fraught and difficult time both physically and emotionally.
As Ms Cheyne has noted, fertility can be preserved through various treatments. The most common and clinically straightforward, of course, is the retrieval of egg, sperm or embryos and subsequent freezing for future use. Other options include freezing ovarian tissue or testicular tissue or taking medications to protect the ovaries from toxic chemotherapy drugs. It is important that advice and support on fertility preservation options are provided to younger people as soon as diagnosis is made, to facilitate this discussion and earlier access to services.
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