Rethink puts crucial nurse back on duty

A PLAN to suspend vital emergency support to 30 home dialysis patients on the North Coast during some of the holiday season has been cancelled by the Health Department, which blamed a nurse manager for the idea.

Kidney Health Australia yesterday demanded the Health Minister, Reba Meagher, investigate the decision by the North Coast Area Health Service to suspend the on-call nurse service, and accused the Government of putting patient lives at risk to save money.
The patients, some of whom had just completed their home dialysis training, were shocked to receive a letter last Friday. It said the nurse would not be available from midnight, December 24 until 8am on December 27, and again from midnight December 30 to 8am January 2.
But after a weekend of lobbying, the health service phoned all of the patients on Monday to say the service would continue.
Anne Wilson, the chief executive officer of Kidney Health, said the 30 patients would have been left in a life-threatening situation and Ms Meagher should investigate why the decision was made.
Ms Wilson said home dialysis saved the public purse about $20,000 a year per patient.
"This must never happen again. This puts patients' lives at risk and some moron has decided somewhere that we're not going to pay for this over the holiday period and they don't understand the issues that come up for home dialysis patients. Dialysis is life support. If people don't have dialysis, they die," she said.
The acting chief executive of the North Coast Area Health Service, Stewart Dowrick, said the letter, which was signed by the nursing unit manager at Ballina Renal Unit, was unauthorised.
The letter, seen by the Herald, said "unfortunately we have limited staff available for the on-call service for home haemodialysis patients".
The unit manager is forbidden under his contract from speaking to the media.
Mr Dowrick could not explain why the letter was sent and insisted staff had been available.
"A mistake has been made by this manager … It's not protocol to send a letter like this to patients without discussing it with local management," he said.
A spokesman for Ms Meagher said she would look into the matter.

By Natasha Wallace Health Reporter

Article from www.smh.com.au/news