Give Kids a New Health System

Recently, our Premier and Treasurer handed down the State Budget. While the Budget contained important announcements around health the real areas of need continue to be missed, putting the lives and early development of thousands of Western Australian children at risk.

For months, each of us who reads The West Australian on a daily basis have been confronted by article after article about a public health system that is broken.

Ambulance ramping at record levels, tragic deaths of people waiting for care, increased times for people waiting in emergency departments, disgruntled and overworked health staff — the list goes on, and our collective hearts broke with the news of the death of Aishwarya Aswath at PCH.

The most saddening thing though is for each of these headlines there are thousands of hidden stories where the health system is failing our community and children are amongst those most significantly impacted.

Imagine this: My name is John (not real name) and I am 6-years-old, a child of a family with a single income, whose parents are trying to support the education of me and my two siblings in a rental with rising housing costs.

Petrol prices are through the roof and my parents simply cannot afford private health cover. I suffer from constant middle ear issues and am often in pain. Often it feels like I am hearing under water. My speech and language development has stopped — I now talk less than most two-year-olds and people struggle to understand me.

As a result, I hate going to school; classrooms and groups are my enemy as I don’t understand what is being said. I don’t engage in learning and find it hard to make friends as I can’t hear and communicate the way they do.

My mum has told me I have already been waiting two years in the public system to see an ear, nose and throat specialist and there is no news about where I sit on the waitlist. It has already taken me a year to see an audiologist. Once I get my ears fixed, I will need support with my speech and language because it has regressed so much, but my mum has already found out that the wait for an initial assessment will be at least six months and there is no guarantee of regular ongoing speech therapy.

Mum is concerned by my overall development, so I need to see a developmental paediatrician. I don’t know what one of those is, but I am told that is another three-year wait! I’ve also started to withdraw from friends and family as I have lost my confidence to socialise as I can’t hear/understand people, I prefer to be alone.

Mum and dad can’t afford to pay for these sessions, and I can’t get the assessments needed to access the NDIS because we are waiting so long to see someone in the public system.

I’ll be nearly in high school by the time I get to see the people who can help me.

Unfortunately, this story is all too common with thousands of similar stories throughout WA. The public health system is littered with ballooning waitlists and little availability for regular and ongoing appointments.

Often a child will be seen for a block of therapy and then discharged even when they still have significant needs. To make matters worse the investment the State Government is making in early detection or preventative health measures is diminishing as a percentage of the overall health budget (even before COVID), and what investment is made is not targeted to support children in their early years of development, or so they can get assessments that will provide access to remedial services through funding sources like the NDIS.

Unfortunately, the gaps in the health system have been left to smaller organisations who look to be innovative to change the outcomes of our citizens. Organisations like Telethon Speech & Hearing are working with philanthropists (including Wesfarmers and other parts of corporate Australia) to address the need of the community. Perplexed by the long waitlists for therapists and specialist medical services in the public system we have launched an initiative that results in children being fast-tracked through the health system so they can access the services they need.