Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Health Minister Natasha Fyles
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: And we know that more than one hundred Australians have
- 0:02Speaker 1: been repatriated back to Australia this morning on another flight
- 0:06Speaker 1: from overseas. And joining me on the line to talk
- 0:08Speaker 1: more about this is the Health Minister Attasha Files.
- 0:11Speaker 2: Good morning to you. Minister.
- 0:13Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. I lost you there for a second.
- 0:15Speaker 1: Sorry if you've got me now though obviously wonderful, excellent. Now, Minister,
- 0:20Speaker 1: how many arrived this morning on that repatriation flight and
- 0:24Speaker 1: where did they come from?
- 0:25Speaker 3: So, Katie, we're seeing the number of vulnerable Australians getting
- 0:29Speaker 3: home through our Howard Springs facility rising significantly this week.
- 0:33Speaker 3: We had one hundred and fifty people on that flight.
- 0:36Speaker 3: That was the figure that we're expecting. Of course, there's
- 0:38Speaker 3: always variation even as the gates people board at the
- 0:42Speaker 3: airport and the flight closes. But that flight came from
- 0:45Speaker 3: Chennai in India. We saw a flight arrive on Sunday
- 0:48Speaker 3: from Frankfort and we've got a flight this Thursday from Paris.
- 0:52Speaker 3: So the Australian government is working in partnership with us
- 0:55Speaker 3: on the team Ozmat team at Howard Springs to really
- 0:58Speaker 3: get these vulnerable of his home. They won't be home
- 1:00Speaker 3: for Christmas, but they certainly will be home for twenty
- 1:03Speaker 3: twenty one. And for some of these people, Katie, you know,
- 1:06Speaker 3: they've been away for many, many months. I know a
- 1:07Speaker 3: husband and wife that have been separated for twelve months.
- 1:10Speaker 3: You know, a young territory family just like us, went
- 1:14Speaker 3: back to see some relatives earlier in the year and
- 1:16Speaker 3: have just been trapped in Europe. So there's some really
- 1:20Speaker 3: stories of you know, really tragic stories and quite emotional.
- 1:24Speaker 3: But it's great to see these people getting home now, Minister.
- 1:27Speaker 1: I wasn't aware that we're actually going to be receiving
- 1:30Speaker 1: flights from places like Frankfurt and some well, one of
- 1:34Speaker 1: the other locations. I can't even remember where you said now,
- 1:36Speaker 1: but are we getting flights from sort of more, you know,
- 1:41Speaker 1: different locations than what we'd originally planned.
- 1:44Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie. So when we agreed to this program with
- 1:46Speaker 3: the Commonwealth Government, it was originally envisaged that the flights
- 1:49Speaker 3: would come from South Africa, India and out of London.
- 1:52Speaker 3: But through Foreign Affairs and defat the consular officials overseas,
- 1:57Speaker 3: decisions have been made to get those flights from other locations.
- 2:01Speaker 3: And this is about the numbers of vulnerable Australians. We've
- 2:03Speaker 3: seen that number of vulnerable Aussies. It was estimated to
- 2:06Speaker 3: be around thirty thousand and it's risen to around forty
- 2:08Speaker 3: thousand since this program started. And if we can get
- 2:12Speaker 3: people directly from the country or the closest port into Australia,
- 2:16Speaker 3: it saves them from having to go into another country
- 2:18Speaker 3: and potentially being trapped. So this is all based on
- 2:21Speaker 3: the evidence of those officials, based on the ground overseas
- 2:25Speaker 3: and working through with those vulnerable Australians.
- 2:27Speaker 1: All right, So obviously I know some people will be
- 2:30Speaker 1: thinking to themselves, will increase numbers could mean increase risk
- 2:33Speaker 1: to COVID getting out in the community. Thus far, though,
- 2:37Speaker 1: we've seen a really good job undertaken by the Ozmat
- 2:41Speaker 1: team out there at Howard Springs in terms of containing everything.
- 2:45Speaker 1: Even as those numbers of COVID have increased, Katie, this.
- 2:49Speaker 3: Virus has certainly, you know, it has ruined twenty twenty
- 2:53Speaker 3: for many people around the world. Its unpredictability is something
- 2:57Speaker 3: that has caused you know, in terms of deal with
- 3:00Speaker 3: it and how we treat people with it. We've been
- 3:02Speaker 3: very fortunate here in the territory that we haven't seen
- 3:04Speaker 3: that community transmission. We haven't seen any COVID deaths, but
- 3:08Speaker 3: these cases, these are vulnerable Australians and the reason that
- 3:11Speaker 3: they are in quarantine is because of these case numbers
- 3:13Speaker 3: that we're seeing that territories need to be reassured. It
- 3:16Speaker 3: is the platinum standard that is being run at Howard Springs.
- 3:19Speaker 3: I've viewed from the perimeter of the facility. I've seen
- 3:23Speaker 3: how hard the OZMAT team work. Their safety and the
- 3:26Speaker 3: safety of the broader Darwin and top end community is
- 3:29Speaker 3: the absolute priority. And so we've had the reviews into
- 3:33Speaker 3: quarantining and it's been acknowledged that the program we run
- 3:36Speaker 3: through OSMAT is the best that is possible.
- 3:40Speaker 1: All right, minister, let's move along because yesterday we learned
- 3:42Speaker 1: that police are going to be taken off some of
- 3:44Speaker 1: those border locations around the territory. They're going to be
- 3:46Speaker 1: pulled from eight remote border entry points.
- 3:50Speaker 2: Why was this decision made?
- 3:52Speaker 3: So in terms of the virus within Australia, we've seen
- 3:55Speaker 3: it come under control and we don't have any community
- 3:58Speaker 3: transmission presently. Will still need to complete those border forms, Katie,
- 4:02Speaker 3: and there's now an online version for them. This is
- 4:05Speaker 3: about managing police resources. So this is a decision. The
- 4:09Speaker 3: Police Commissioner is also the territory controller, so this is
- 4:11Speaker 3: a decision about best allocating those resources right now. We
- 4:15Speaker 3: can always step them up if we need to, but
- 4:17Speaker 3: it's also we're living with the virus and we will
- 4:21Speaker 3: have We've got the automatic number plate recognition in place
- 4:24Speaker 3: on these borders that aren't being utilized in high numbers,
- 4:28Speaker 3: and we will maintain that presence on those main roads.
- 4:31Speaker 3: We can always step resources up and it would go
- 4:34Speaker 3: back Katie. Remember early on we saw the outbreak in
- 4:36Speaker 3: the Kannanara Kimberley region and we made sure there was
- 4:39Speaker 3: resources there. So if we were to see an outbreak
- 4:41Speaker 3: in South Australia again, we would place resources on those
- 4:44Speaker 3: borders equally if it was in Western Australia. So this
- 4:47Speaker 3: is managing what has been a very long year. These
- 4:50Speaker 3: officers and the staff that have supported them from the AFP,
- 4:53Speaker 3: Defense and Public and Environmental Health have done an amazing job.
- 4:57Speaker 3: But this is based on risk and the risk right
- 4:59Speaker 3: now with the virus under control in Australia is low
- 5:03Speaker 3: and so this is an operational decision.
- 5:04Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I actually think it's the right decision to
- 5:06Speaker 1: make At this point, we don't have those hard boarders
- 5:09Speaker 1: in place, and we're managing things quite well. But like
- 5:12Speaker 1: you said, if we do see a hot spot, or
- 5:13Speaker 1: if we see a situation where things start to amp up,
- 5:16Speaker 1: there is the opportunity to deploy the police and those
- 5:19Speaker 1: health workers to those locations. Minister, let's move along, because
- 5:24Speaker 1: plenty of people are this morning scratching their heads wondering
- 5:27Speaker 1: why on Earth five thousand dollars was spent by a
- 5:31Speaker 1: government department on a Christmas tree. Did the Department of
- 5:35Speaker 1: Health seek approval from you, as the minister before making
- 5:38Speaker 1: this decision?
- 5:40Speaker 3: So, Katie, I wasn't aware of this decision until earlier
- 5:44Speaker 3: this week or over the weekend. I should say, no
- 5:47Speaker 3: one wants to be the Grinch at Christmas, but for me,
- 5:49Speaker 3: I would have preferred to see that money spent elsewhere.
- 5:51Speaker 3: We have had the health budget impacted by coronavirus, and
- 5:55Speaker 3: I've spoken with the chief executive, Katie, and she's acknowledged
- 5:58Speaker 3: it came from a good place about a gift giving program,
- 6:01Speaker 3: but it was a poor decision to pay that much
- 6:03Speaker 3: money for a Christmas tree. So I apologize as the
- 6:05Speaker 3: Minister for Health to Territorians. We of course acknowledge the
- 6:09Speaker 3: spirit at Christmas, but this is not a good use
- 6:11Speaker 3: of taxpayer dollars.
- 6:12Speaker 1: I mean, are you annoyed that you're having to apologize
- 6:15Speaker 1: for something though that wasn't your decision. It was the
- 6:18Speaker 1: department's decision and clearly money not very well spent. I mean,
- 6:24Speaker 1: if you want to raise money for charity, there's other
- 6:26Speaker 1: ways that it can be done, Katie.
- 6:28Speaker 3: The design behind the tree was that there would be
- 6:30Speaker 3: a gift giving program to three local charities, food Banks
- 6:33Speaker 3: of Vincent, De Paul and RSPCAS. I understand, but yes,
- 6:37Speaker 3: I would have expected smarter decisions to be made. Don't
- 6:39Speaker 3: want to be that Christmas grnch but to me, it's
- 6:41Speaker 3: not how we should be spending territory tax pay dollars
- 6:44Speaker 3: within the Health Department.
- 6:45Speaker 1: Well, and it really sort of goes to the line
- 6:48Speaker 1: that the opposition keeps running that the government is wasteful, Katie.
- 6:54Speaker 3: It came from a good place, is what I can
- 6:56Speaker 3: say to Territorians, but it is not in line with
- 6:59Speaker 3: community expectation. The chief executive, as I said, I've spoken
- 7:02Speaker 3: to her. She is very apologetic around this and sincerely
- 7:07Speaker 3: apologizes to the community as well.
- 7:09Speaker 2: So it's not going to be taken down though.
- 7:10Speaker 1: I mean, obviously that would not save the money, is
- 7:12Speaker 1: my guess, Katie.
- 7:15Speaker 3: I haven't asked for that. My understanding is that that
- 7:18Speaker 3: is in place, and that wouldn't rectify this situation. I
- 7:21Speaker 3: think we just need to acknowledge that it doesn't meet
- 7:23Speaker 3: community expectations and we won't see it again in the future.
- 7:26Speaker 2: Yeah, it really doesn't.
- 7:27Speaker 1: I mean, we've got people messaging through already about this
- 7:29Speaker 1: who are pretty annoyed.
- 7:30Speaker 2: There's no doubt about it, you know.
- 7:32Speaker 1: I've got one here that says, regarding the five thousand
- 7:35Speaker 1: dollar tree, makes me think of who signs off on
- 7:37Speaker 1: the purchase orders that they didn't think that that was
- 7:39Speaker 1: an exorbitant amount of money if they must use five
- 7:43Speaker 1: thousand dollars of taxpayers money in brackets, which should be
- 7:46Speaker 1: for the benefit of the community. I would have preferred
- 7:48Speaker 1: a competition for schools from low socioeconomic areas. They could
- 7:52Speaker 1: all make a Christmas tree, each using only found or
- 7:56Speaker 1: secondhand recycled objects, and then the best five schools get
- 8:00Speaker 1: a donation of one thousand dollars each to go towards
- 8:02Speaker 1: their library. I mean I think we could all come
- 8:04Speaker 1: up with better ways that five thousand dollars could be used.
- 8:08Speaker 3: I think you'll see that next Christmas. And that was
- 8:10Speaker 3: a great idea that was just suggested by your listener.
- 8:13Speaker 3: And as I said, not being that Christmas Grench. I
- 8:15Speaker 3: love Christmas. I love celebrating it. And there's other ways
- 8:17Speaker 3: in which this can come across that meets the community expectations.
- 8:21Speaker 3: Because clearly five thousand dollars on a Christmas treat does
- 8:23Speaker 3: not meet our community expectation.
- 8:25Speaker 2: No, it certainly doesn't. Minister.
- 8:27Speaker 1: Let's move along because I want to ask you about
- 8:29Speaker 1: some issues which have been raised with us about pain
- 8:32Speaker 1: management by our listeners last week. I just want you
- 8:35Speaker 1: to take a listen to Andrew. He got in contact
- 8:38Speaker 1: with us last week to talk about the issues that
- 8:40Speaker 1: he's having. Was seeing a pain specialist.
- 8:44Speaker 4: Before the operation.
- 8:45Speaker 5: I saw the emenstist and they said, have you ever had
- 8:48Speaker 5: administrating more theme pump? I said I have, but I'm
- 8:50Speaker 5: allergic for more scenes. They're going to get a sentinel
- 8:53Speaker 5: pump and put it on me, and this is done
- 8:55Speaker 5: by the pain team immediately following the operation. Anyway, this
- 8:58Speaker 5: didn't happen and sent home and within twelve hours my
- 9:03Speaker 5: wife had to ring an ambulance and I was back
- 9:04Speaker 5: in the hospital getting said it again because I was
- 9:07Speaker 5: in so much pain, and the hospital managed to get
- 9:09Speaker 5: it under control again, and they wrote a letter to
- 9:12Speaker 5: my private GP to really up the analgesia that he's
- 9:15Speaker 5: given me until I get to see the pain team. Meanwhile,
- 9:17Speaker 5: they had requested the paint team several times to come
- 9:20Speaker 5: and see me, which I didn't see them. So now
- 9:23Speaker 5: I'm out of hospital and it's been eleven weeks now
- 9:26Speaker 5: and I still haven't got an appointment with the pain team.
- 9:29Speaker 5: Three and a half weeks ago, they said, well, you
- 9:31Speaker 5: haven't filled in the form.
- 9:32Speaker 2: Oh, come on, I said what form?
- 9:35Speaker 4: And they said, there's a questionnaire you've got to fill
- 9:37Speaker 4: in before you can see us. I said, well, I
- 9:39Speaker 4: haven't even made advised to that. Yeah, and the doctor
- 9:42Speaker 4: keeps telling me I can't keep prescribing you this heavy analgesia.
- 9:46Speaker 4: And I've been ringing the paint team and they said
- 9:48Speaker 4: it's a matter of three hours. We haven't read your paperwork,
- 9:51Speaker 4: so we don't know how urgent yours.
- 9:52Speaker 2: Is yet, Minister.
- 9:54Speaker 1: Unfortunately, Andrew's call wasn't the only one we took.
- 9:58Speaker 2: We had several other people call to talk about.
- 10:01Speaker 1: The different issues that they've had in terms of being
- 10:03Speaker 1: able to get in to see the pain management team.
- 10:07Speaker 1: Have we got some kind of shortage here with that
- 10:09Speaker 1: pain management team?
- 10:11Speaker 3: So Katie, in terms of Andrew, I apologize for what
- 10:14Speaker 3: he's gone through and I'd be happy if his details
- 10:16Speaker 3: were passed on to us the department to look into that,
- 10:19Speaker 3: and equally for anyone that feels that the health system
- 10:21Speaker 3: has let them down, there is processes within it for
- 10:24Speaker 3: them to make complaint. Pain management clinic is complex. It's
- 10:28Speaker 3: not about some pun at all for a broken leg.
- 10:30Speaker 3: It's long term chronic pain and these are serious drugs
- 10:33Speaker 3: that are being issued and there has to be a
- 10:35Speaker 3: strict process. I did speak with the department around this,
- 10:38Speaker 3: and it's something where they use both psychological and neurological
- 10:41Speaker 3: support and the anethetists are involved in this, but we
- 10:44Speaker 3: do rely on a pain specialist from Interstate, and so
- 10:48Speaker 3: I've asked the department to look into this issue and
- 10:51Speaker 3: to see if there's a way, particularly using telehealth, that
- 10:54Speaker 3: we can help escalate some of these cases where it
- 10:58Speaker 3: sounds like Territorians really need access to that. We need
- 11:01Speaker 3: to be careful. These are schedulate drugs. These are a
- 11:03Speaker 3: drugs that in the wrong hands, could cause quite a
- 11:05Speaker 3: lot of damage in our community. And so I've asked
- 11:08Speaker 3: them to look into that issue around wait times for
- 11:11Speaker 3: territories and what they can do to resolve that so
- 11:14Speaker 3: they can manage their pain through the Christmas period, but
- 11:16Speaker 3: at the same time make sure the broader community is protected.
- 11:19Speaker 1: Do you have any idea what the average weight time
- 11:22Speaker 1: is for people being able to get into that pain
- 11:26Speaker 1: management clinic, Katie.
- 11:29Speaker 3: They're triarged and so it might be an individual that's
- 11:31Speaker 3: having an operation that might need drugs to then manage
- 11:34Speaker 3: themselves post that, or it might be someone that's got
- 11:36Speaker 3: a long term health condition that needs drugs. I don't
- 11:39Speaker 3: have the specifics around the weight list times and they
- 11:42Speaker 3: would vary as their triarge which brings me back to
- 11:44Speaker 3: another important point for people. If they are weightlisted not
- 11:48Speaker 3: only for pain management clinic but for other health services,
- 11:51Speaker 3: they can always go back to their GP and explain
- 11:54Speaker 3: that their condition they believe is worsening and it can
- 11:56Speaker 3: be triarged up by health. So certainly, in terms of
- 12:00Speaker 3: this specific issue, it does rely on a pain specialist
- 12:03Speaker 3: and specialists from the state, and so I've asked the
- 12:06Speaker 3: department of course that's been impacted with COVID, what they
- 12:09Speaker 3: can do to help deal with some of these people
- 12:12Speaker 3: that are waiting.
- 12:13Speaker 1: Yeah, because I thought, you know, certainly from the calls
- 12:16Speaker 1: that we've had, and we have had quite a few.
- 12:18Speaker 1: From the calls that we've had, people are quite understanding
- 12:21Speaker 1: of the fact that they know that they're quite heavy drugs,
- 12:23Speaker 1: that you know, that they're having to be prescribed. They
- 12:27Speaker 1: understand that side of things, but it hasn't been the
- 12:30Speaker 1: issue of being able to actually get that prescription.
- 12:32Speaker 2: Their GP or their you.
- 12:35Speaker 1: Know, their surgeon has then given them the letter obviously
- 12:39Speaker 1: to refer them to the pain specialist, but the wait
- 12:42Speaker 1: list has been so long that, as you've heard there
- 12:45Speaker 1: from Andrew, in some cases they're having to be taken
- 12:47Speaker 1: to the hospital in the ambulance.
- 12:50Speaker 3: Yeah, Katie, And this is, as I said, highly complex.
- 12:53Speaker 3: It uses a number of supports, psychological, neurological. It's it's
- 12:57Speaker 3: quite a complex process to relieve someone of that pain,
- 13:00Speaker 3: long term chronic pain. We're not just talking about someone
- 13:03Speaker 3: you know that's injured themselves and need some pun at
- 13:05Speaker 3: all to tie them over till it heels. So I've
- 13:07Speaker 3: asked a department, based on this feedback to provide some
- 13:10Speaker 3: options to these people so that we can ensure that
- 13:13Speaker 3: they receive the care that they need, whilst at the
- 13:15Speaker 3: same time protecting the community potentially from the misuse of
- 13:18Speaker 3: those drugs and to get people off this medicine. I mean,
- 13:20Speaker 3: no one wants to be on long term medication. They
- 13:22Speaker 3: want to resolve their issue and they want to be
- 13:24Speaker 3: a part of our community, happy and healthy.
- 13:26Speaker 1: Well, what we might do is we might get the
- 13:29Speaker 1: details of those callers across to your office so that
- 13:33Speaker 1: you know, so that they know that it is being
- 13:35Speaker 1: looked into. We all know it's really complex. But then
- 13:38Speaker 1: we'll also talk to you again I reckon down the
- 13:40Speaker 1: track to find out sort of where things are at
- 13:42Speaker 1: with the pain management in terms of that clinic and
- 13:46Speaker 1: whether there is some changes that could come into play
- 13:48Speaker 1: to ensure that territorianes are able to see someone more quickly,
- 13:52Speaker 1: of course.
- 13:52Speaker 3: Katie, and just to provide some information to your listeners.
- 13:56Speaker 3: I mean that we don't look. We love to answer
- 13:57Speaker 3: your calls and have a chat, and of course we'll
- 13:59Speaker 3: always do that, but there are processes for them. So,
- 14:01Speaker 3: as I mentioned, if someone feels that their condition, no
- 14:04Speaker 3: matter what it is, has deteriorated. Of course, if it's
- 14:06Speaker 3: in an emergency, they call trip below, but their GP
- 14:09Speaker 3: can help them escalate whatever specialist appointment they need, and
- 14:12Speaker 3: we have seen significant interruption to specialist appointments. The patient
- 14:16Speaker 3: advocate at the hospital is also a point of call.
- 14:18Speaker 3: If you're really frustrated with the clinicians and you feel
- 14:20Speaker 3: that your message isn't getting through, you can ask for
- 14:22Speaker 3: a patient advocate at any point and explain to them
- 14:25Speaker 3: the frustration and their job is to try and help
- 14:27Speaker 3: resolve that. And if you know all of that doesn't work,
- 14:30Speaker 3: we have the Health Complaints Commissioner. So even if you
- 14:33Speaker 3: have something and we've got wonderful health staff Katie, there
- 14:36Speaker 3: are greater sasset and they've worked so tirelessly this year,
- 14:38Speaker 3: but sometimes things go wrong. It's a busy system. If
- 14:42Speaker 3: you have received the care but you think there could
- 14:44Speaker 3: be improvements, the Health Complaints Commissioner looks for systemic issues,
- 14:48Speaker 3: and so it might be that your personal issue has
- 14:51Speaker 3: been resolved, but you'd still like to voice that and
- 14:53Speaker 3: you can just visit their website and Steve Dunam, the
- 14:56Speaker 3: Health Complaints Commissioner, looks into a variety of issues, publishes
- 14:58Speaker 3: an annual report provides advice to the Department of Health.
- 15:02Speaker 1: Yeah, well, look, you know, from all accounts, what we've
- 15:04Speaker 1: heard from those listeners is with all of them, they've
- 15:06Speaker 1: actually been referred to a couple of times by their GPS
- 15:10Speaker 1: and they've still had to wait incredibly long periods of
- 15:13Speaker 1: time to be able to get in for what they've
- 15:15Speaker 1: described as chronic pain. So look, I think that this
- 15:18Speaker 1: gives us a bit further information. Hopefully we're able to
- 15:21Speaker 1: get some help for those territories, because like you said,
- 15:24Speaker 1: you know, we don't want to be in a situation
- 15:25Speaker 1: where anybody is suffering in pain for a long period
- 15:29Speaker 1: of time. Of course, Katie Well, Minister for Health, Natasha Files,
- 15:33Speaker 1: we are going to have to leave it there. Appreciate
- 15:35Speaker 1: your time this morning. Thank you very much for speaking
- 15:37Speaker 1: with us.
- 15:37Speaker 3: Thank you