Legislative Council, Tuesday 27 June 2023

Ms FORREST question to LEADER of the GOVERNMENT in the LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, Mrs HISCUTT

1 Does the Government acknowledge there is real value in patient/individual outcomes through engagement with lived experience advocates and peer support across a range of health and well-being matters?

2 Does the Government accept the Tasmanian health demographic data indicates Tasmania has high rates of diabetes and other risk factors associated with peripheral vascular disease that increase the risk of lower limb amputation, risks that are exacerbated in rural and regional areas?

3 What are the actual barriers for patients in hospital for surgery and/or rehabilitation care for amputation to direct access to the support that can be provided by lived experience advocates and peer supporter early in the patients’ journey?

4 What organisations are patients who are newly diagnosed with diabetes generally referred to that are external to the THS?

Answers:

1 The Tasmanian Health Service values and engages with several lived experience and peer support programs across the organisation.

2 The Atlas of Healthcare Variation shows that, between 2014 and 2018, Tasmania’s rates of potentially preventable hospitalisations due to diabetes complications were higher than the national average, but not the highest in the country. The exception was 2016–2017, where it was similar to the national average.
Risk factors for diabetes and complications of diabetes are associated with socioeconomic and sociocultural determinants of health; this can include rurality and ethnicity, but these are not the only factors. The Atlas of Healthcare Variation shows some of the most ‘at risk’ communities are those in outer areas of the major cities.

3 Peer support for people who experience amputation is available from the Tasmanian Amputee Society. This service provides support to individuals in the acute hospital setting, and on discharge. Access to this support is at the choice of the patient and/or their family; and support can be provided by phone, an in-person visit in an acute setting or in the patient’s home.

The THS also provides new amputees with the ‘Peer Support Handout’, which contains information a new amputee and their family needs, to understand what a peer support person can help with, and to establish contact with a peer support group if they would like to.

A potential barrier is that patients and their family members need to engage with the Tasmanian Amputee Society themselves; the THS cannot do this on behalf of patients.

4 Most diabetes diagnoses and care are provided in the primary care and community sector by non-THS entities, including general practitioners, privately credentialled diabetes educators, and Diabetes Australia – Tasmania. The THS generally provides services to unstable patients with complex comorbidities and/or severe complications.