Treatment a hard road
THREE days a week, 79- year- old Louie Cantoni from Ingham is taken by ambulance to Townsville for supervised haemodialysis.
It is a gruelling day that starts with departure at 7am. Most evenings he does not get home until 5pm.
He said he spends about four hours on dialysis at The Townsville Hospital. The rest of the time is spent waiting.
Mr Cantoni is thankful for the health care he gets, but said he can’t understand why he can’t have dialysis at the hospital in Ingham.
“I had a cracked pelvis last year and had to be taken down on a stretcher. It’d be easier if it could all be done here. There are other people here in the same boat as me,” Mr Cantoni said.
Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto said the lack of hospital- based dialysis in Ingham was an issue he was pursuing. He said he had already had talks with Queensland Health officials in Ingham and at The Townsville Hospital.
“What I’ve been told is that some people need different sorts of dialysis. I was told that people travelling to Townsville for treatment need to because they have a pre- existing medical condition that requires the supervision of specialist staff while they are undergoing their dialysis,” Mr Dametto said.
Mr Dametto said both Palm Island and Mount Isa had dialysis machines in their hospitals.
He said this was known as “satellite dialysis” in that it was conducted away from The Townsville Hospital.
“They can do it in these places because the people receiving this satellite dialysis do not have a preexisting medical condition that requires supervision by a specialist. If you have had a stroke or something like that you can’t have satellite treatment. You have to go to Townsville,” he said.
Acting chief executive at Townsville Hospital and Health Service Kieran Keyes said patients requiring haemodialysis in Ingham were treated in the renal dialysis unit under the care of specialist clinicians at the Townsville Hospital.
“Patients who can safely dialyse at home are supported by the provision of dialysis equipment,” Mr Keyes said. “Currently, there are two patients in Ingham who can safely self- dialyse ( at home).”
He said four patients from the Ingham region travelled to The Townsville Hospital for care. He said none met the clinical criteria that would allow them to be treated at a satellite haemodialysis unit.
Mr Dametto said the Ingham hospital had a room that was purpose- built to accommodate an inhouse dialysis unit. He said it has never been used.