ASOHNS meets SA Health Minister to discuss child tonsillectomies
The need to increase adenotonsillectomy procedures in children was discussed with the South Australian Minister for Health, the Hon. John Hill MP, in a recent meeting that included ASOHNS’ representative, Dr Michael Jay.
“He [the Minister] was interested and gave us a good hearing with lots of discussion about the topic, the relevance of tonsils and adenoids, the reasons behind a relative decline in surgical intervention over the past 50 years, the impact of increasing size and obesity in children, as well as a number of other related issues,” said Dr Jay.
He believed that overall the meeting had been a positive interaction resulting in a plan for action to be directed through the Women’s and Children’s Hospital CEO, Ms Gail Mondy who attended.
The meeting also included Women’s and Children’s Hospital director of pulmonary medicine, Dr James Martin, whose department has published a number of papers about the impact of sleep disordered breathing in children.
“James and I stressed the importance of acting on the matter in terms of increasing the numbers of procedures done and how that would need to be spread across the public hospitals within the city and State,” said Dr Jay.
“We said that curing sleep apnoea (which was possible in 80 per cent of cases with adenotonsillectomy) was a preventative health issue with research showing that it actually saved money in the overall health budget.
“We also touched on the recommendation of increasing research into the condition and its treatment.”
The department of pulmonary medicine at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide had already applied for funds for additional space and funding to staff the current diagnostic facility as demand had exceeded its ability to provide adequate services or increase research output.
Dr Jay said the meeting finished with a philosophical discussion about health funding.
“We discussed the fact that a vast amount of health budgets are spent on end of life problems, that there is no control over what and who comes through the door of A and E departments, that one in four don’t make it out of an adult intensive care unit at $6,000+ a day so there is not as much money for the arguably more important preventative health issues affecting children and young adults”, he said.
The meeting with the Minister was instigated by the joint position paper on Indications for Tonsillectomy and Adenotonsillectomy in Children prepared by ASOHNS and the Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. The paper, released in August last year, was sent to all federal and state government health ministers.
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