Aussies at risk of dying in their sleep left in the lurch by broken election promise

THE Health Department says it’s unaware of a January 1 commitment meant to fund a device that would keep thousands of diabetics alive.

EXCLUSIVE

MORE than 28,000 Australians go to bed each night not knowing if they’ll be alive in the morning and the government has failed to honour an election promise that could save their lives.

Type 1 diabetes patients are at risk of dead in bed syndrome where their blood sugar levels plunge while they are asleep causing seizures, coma and death.

This syndrome is estimated to account for up to 50 type 1 diabetes deaths in Australia every year.

In last year’s election campaign then Health Minister Sussan Ley pledged to fund continuous glucose monitoring technology for 4000 children suffering from the syndrome from January 1.

Two months after the program was meant to have been rolled out families are still waiting for help with the technology which costs $4000 a year.

Without the device parents of children with type 1 diabetes have to get up every two hours each night to finger prick their child and test their blood sugar levels.

More than 4000 type 1 diabetes patients could benefit from the device. Picture Thinkstock

The Department of Health said today that it was “unaware” a government plan to provide life saving continuous glucose monitors to 4000 young children was meant to start on January 1 even though it was included in the government’s election policy costing document.

“I’m unaware of a commitment to a 1 January start,” Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health Andrew Stewart told a Senate Estimates hearing.

The Secretary of the Department of Health Martin Bowles said he would have to take on notice questions about whether a January 1 start date was part of the promise.

Department officials said work on the policy was well underway, a device had been selected and the department was in the final stages of organising for pharmacists to supply the monitors and the rollout would begin soon.

A spokesman for Health Minster Greg Hunt said the government had been working with Diabetes Australia, JDRF and the DANII Foundation to deliver the program.

“We are in the final stages and will very shortly make an announcement about an imminent commencement,” he said.

Justine Caines who lobbies for the DANII Foundation, named after Daniella Meades-Barlow who lost her life to the syndrome at the age of 17, says the government is working to get the scheme operating.

“We’ve been working productively with Greg Hunt’s office and expect an announcement shortly,” she said.

With one person on average dying each week from the syndrome it’s possible eight lives have been lost as a result of the delay.

In May last year former Health Minster Sussan Ley promised “a re-elected Coalition Government will invest $54 million subsidising continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology for children and young adults under 21 years old facing extra challenges managing their Type 1 diabetes.”

“It will help reduce possible visits to emergency departments and missed school days by allowing families and children to better self-manage their diabetes,” she said.

“Most importantly, it will help reduce stress and anxiety for children and their parents, and even save lives.”

The program had not commenced when Ms Ley quit as health minister in January in the wake of publicity about taxpayer funded flights to the Gold Coast.

It’s possible the government may have underestimated the number of people aged under 21 who will take up the device.

Continuous Glucose Monitor. Picture: Supplied

There are around 14,000 people eligible but the government only costed the scheme for 4000 people. The scheme is now likely to cost much more than anticipated.

Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said it was “appalling that eight months after the election the Government hasn’t got their act together to deliver these lifesaving devices to young Australians with diabetes”.

“There is bipartisan agreement on this initiative, with Labor committing to a broader CGM access scheme during the election, so there is absolutely no excuse for the Government to not be delivering it,” she said.

The monitor alerts patients or a parent of low blood sugar levels allowing them to take action to prevent death or avert the hypoglycaemic event.

It also saves the hospital system tens of thousands of dollars that would be spent helping a patient recover from a severe low blood sugar event.

The device costs $1200, a further $810 is needed for a receiver and the sensors, which need to be replaced each week, cost $4810 a year.

Because the monitor is not a medicine and the censors are not a medical device there is no pathway for diabetes patients to apply for government subsidy.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s electorate Wentworth has double the percentage of type 1 diabetes patients, 19 per cent compared to 10 per cent, Diabetes Australia figures show.

Originally published as Aussies at risk of dying in their sleep left in the lurch by broken election promise