NT kidney plan released promising more community care in face of ‘unprecedented burden’
Programs to allow Territorians to access dialysis closer to home will be piloted in communities, as NT Health admits current models cannot meet the needs of growing patient numbers.
Northern Territory
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Programs to allow Territorians with kidney disease to access treatment closer to home will be piloted in communities, as NT Health admits it will not be able to cope with the rapidly growing burden of the disease under current care models.
Rates of kidney disease in the NT are four times the national average, with Aboriginal people at even greater risk.
One in two Aboriginal Territorians aged over 50 have chronic kidney disease, or clinical biomarkers for the disease, and of the NT’s 850 dialysis patients almost 90 per cent of them are Aboriginal. Those numbers are expected to grow.
“Territorians are facing an unprecedented burden of kidney disease,” NT Health chief executive Marco Briceno said in the government’s five year kidney plan, released Friday.
“With growing rates of chronic disease, especially diabetes, we expect to see rapid growth in the incidence and prevalence of chronic kidney disease over the coming years.
“Our current models of care will not be able to meet the needs of the growing numbers of people needing kidney care and support.”
NT Health executive director of remote health Tamsin Cockayne said a key focus of the kidney plan was to help people stay in community for treatment and dialysis.
“We’re going to pilot new models of care, where we’ll work with our communities to grow a new workforce, an Aboriginal workforce, that can support people to stay in community right through their journey of kidney disease,” she said.
The workforce development programs will provide training in a range of areas, with the aim to diversify support for kidney disease patients, including greater access to clinical and allied healthcare, and proactive health education.
Currently if someone in the NT needs dialysis, they must travel to an urban centre for an initial operation and assessment as to whether their care can be managed at home.
“Our rates of being able to get people back home aren’t where we need them to be,” Dr Cockayne said.
“People often end up long term in a regional centre such as Darwin dislocated from their family … which has all kinds of health care impacts, social and emotional impacts, and really means people are coming out of community and our family systems.”
The biggest challenge, she said, was establishing a stable workforce in communities to be able to deliver dialysis.
Health Minister Selena Uibo said the kidney plan had been developed in close consultation with kidney care providers and patients.
“We recognise the urgent need for a comprehensive approach that extends across prevention, management and the empowerment of our community to remain on country,” she said in the report.
“The plan is a blueprint for this transformative journey.”
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