Sunday Territorian

TIME TO THINK OUTSIDE BOX

- FRED HOLLOWS FOUNDATION SHAUN TATIPATA IS THE FRED HOLLOWS FOUNDATION’S INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA PROGRAM MANAGER. A DESCENDANT OF THE WUTHATHI PEOPLE, HE WAS BORN AND RAISED ON LARRAKIA COUNTRY.

I WAS surprised to learn that the Northern Territory government’s recently released 2020-21 budget did not include additional funding to address elective surgery waitlists, which have been heavily impacted by COVID-19. This failure to address a critical public need will disproport­ionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who rely on the public health system. Cataract in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is 12 times more common than in other Australian­s, but they are less likely to receive the necessary surgery.

THE COVID-19 EFFECT

Hospitals were forced to cease elective surgeries this year to ensure sufficient capacity and resourcing for COVID-19. This means that people who were on the waiting list for cataract surgery had to wait even longer.

Public hospitals already had long waitlists before COVID-19. Now they’re grappling with even longer lists.

Private hospitals and their workforce could be part of the solution, but what might this look like, especially if we’re considerin­g the specific needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples?

WHAT CAN WE DO?

This weekend, my team at The Fred Hollows Foundation worked with Darwin Private Hospital on an alternativ­e pathway helping to alleviate some of the pressure on the public system.

We worked with Royal Darwin Hospital staff to make it happen. Together, we facilitate­d a dedicated Saturday surgery list so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients on the waitlist could finally get their cataract surgery.

These alternativ­e pathways are part of a much-needed solution to long waitlists for elective surgery. The ophthalmol­ogists and anaestheti­st involved bulkbilled Medicare and our partnershi­p with Darwin Private Hospital ensured that there was no “gap” fee for patients.

With our public hospitals stretched to capacity, we’ve partnered with Healthscop­e’s private hospitals to find the theatre space and the capacity to navigate the limitation­s of our public system. Patients are supported through every step in their journey, from understand­ing what cataract is, what the surgery involves, paperwork and getting to and from the hospital. Above all, our team makes sure that services are culturally appropriat­e.

Now is the time to shake things up and see out the end of 2020 with some positive changes to the way things work. We need to invest in alternativ­e pathways to cataract surgery and all elective surgeries.

The onus is on all of us to make sure no one is missing out on the critical health care services they need. And if we think outside the box, and break down the unnecessar­y silos, no one needs to.

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