The Lung Foundation pushes for pulmonary rehabilitation to be listed on Medicare

JUST 5 per cent of Australians with chronic lung disease or cancer have access to vital rehabilitation programs.

Denis Dowty is guided by Ivan Nuguid, Respiratory Nurse, during the Rehabilitation class at cabrini Rehabilitation Centre, Elsternwick Picture: Janine Eastgate

FORTY years of heavy smoking has left Denis Dowty gasping for air.

The 79-year-old Malvern man has emphysema and can barely walk five minutes before his chest tightens and he struggles to breathe.

Daily activities such as showering and making his bed have become arduous tasks and without family close by Mr Dowty no longer feels safe going out at night.

“Unconsciously, it limits your zest for life,” he said.

“The simplest of tasks literally take your breath away and it is very scary when you can’t breathe.”

But Mr Dowty is one of the lucky few lung patients with access to a potentially lifesaving pulmonary rehabilitation program in Elsternwick.

He attends a one-hour exercise class that helps build up his lung capacity, followed by a lung health education session at Cabrini Health twice a week.

Cabrini pulmonary rehabilitation co-ordinator Ivan Nuguid said patients learned how to manage symptoms and to recognise their body’s warning signals.

According to Lung Foundation Australia, only 5 per cent of Australians with lung cancer and chronic lung disease have access to this vital rehabilitation program.

In Melbourne, there are seven health centres that offer the program for about 440,000 people living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) which includes asthma, bronchitis and emphysema.

Most of these centres are in Melbourne’s inner south.

For people living in rural and regional Victoria, access is even more difficult.

In a bid to make the programs more accessible, the lung foundation has applied to get pulmonary rehabilitation on Medicare.

Foundation chief executive Heather Allan said a successful outcome would allow trained health professionals to set up affordable pulmonary rehabilitation programs in accessible places, such as community centres and gyms.

General practitioners would be able to refer patients for rehabilitation rather than hospital physicians alone.

“Existing programs are delivered almost exclusively in a hospital setting although pulmonary rehabilitation can be delivered safely and effectively in the community.” Mrs Allan said.

“The Medicare subsidy will ensure patients can afford to attend regardless of whether or not they have private health insurance.”

The Medical Services Advisory Committee will advise the Federal Health Minister Susan Ley about Lung Foundation Australia’s application, but it is not known when a decision will be made.

Submissions and letters to support the foundation’s application can be submitted until Friday, November 13.

For more information go to Lung Foundation Australia’s website.

LUNG HEALTH CARE

Pulmonary rehabilitation benefits patients with COPD and lung cancer

About 440,000 Melburnians have chronic lung disease

PULMONARY REHABILITATION PROGRAMS IN MELBOURNE:

— The Alfred Hospital, Prahran

— Cabrini Health, Elstenwick

— Epworth Rehab, Camberwell

— Clayton Community Rehab Centre

— Uniting Aged Care, Oakleigh

— Epworth Rehabilitation, Brighton

— Bentleigh Bayside Community Health Service, Sandringham