Chapter:
14 - Health
Mover:
Brenton Higgins
Seconder:
John Goss
 
 
Source:
Branch: Canberra South Telopea
My Private Notes


Preamble
​The ACT Government currently invests in eating disorders, including early intervention and inpatient support, with the development of a new early intervention program and a first of its kind (zero cost) residential program for those Canberran’s needing support. The ACT Government can and must be congratulated for supporting programs of this kind and leading the country in support zero cost health care to Canberran’s in need. The vast majority of these patients suffer from either anorexia or bulimia, and understandably, the model of care in these programs reflects these diseases. 

However, eating disorders and the scope of the model of care that encompass eating disorders has changed considerably. It is now widely accepted that eating disorders is not just anorexia or bulimia, but is a wide ranging scale of diseases, that also include the hormonal disorders and genetic issues that cause either over-eating or weight gain. In short, Bariatric patients are no longer being looked at as ‘lazy’ or ‘a failure’ but now as a human being that is suffering from a disease – and critically a disease that can easily and readily be treated. 

This motion calls on the ACT Government to continue the outstanding work providing for zero cost health care and expanding this to cover bariatric patients. The ACT Government currently provides just 52 bariatric surgeries, outsourced to a private surgeon in Canberra. While this support is welcome, it must be expanded to include the full suite of support and treatments that can be made available for bariatric patients. This should include surgery, temporary balloons, VLCD and hormonal injections. 
General Resolution

Support for Bariatric patients and treatment in the ACT

​ACT Labor calls on the ACT Government to further increase the support for bariatric patients in the ACT and ensure that these can be provided free of charge to Canberrans who need treatment. Treating bariatric patients is not only best practise for the patient, leading to a longer healthier life, but save the health system money in the long run. 

Treating bariatric patients living with obesity is not only best practise for the patient, leading to a longer healthier life, but saves the health system money in the long run. Currently, support is limited to 52 20-30 patients per year and is dependent on a number of factors, including availability of the private surgeon allocated operating lists (which is limited to only one surgeon in the ACT despite their being multiple practises), type of surgery said surgeon favours, the income of the patient, and the number of funded surgeries done that year.

This level of support should be increased to meet the needs of Canberrans and not be dependent on these factors and should instead be dependent on the quality of life years gained and the relative savings imparted to government spending on chronic diseases like obesity, cardiovascular and respiratory disease as demonstrated by the article published by Price Waterhouse Cooper. 

This support should be open to all Canberrans and if this means allowing other treating doctors to work within the health system, it should be opened. Evidence has shown that the model of care best suited to delivering bariatric metabolic obesity care involves multiple surgeons, medical specialists, nurses and allied health supporting the patient through their bariatric journey. Funding must be adjusted to the current population and the current reported rate of overweight and obesity, which is a staggering 74% or 7 out of every 10 persons living in Canberra.  

The motion calls on the Minister for Health to report back to this conference next year as to the progress of this support. 

Reference: https://www.pwc.com.au/pdf/weighing-the-cost-of-obesity-final.pdf