Delivering the new endoscopy service at Cooktown: endoscopist Dr Shane Sadleir and anaesthetist Dr Dan Hook. Both doctors were raised in Cooktown and have returned to work in their local hospital as permanent senior medical officers. Photo: TCHHS.
A new endoscopy service at Cooktown has already treated 12 patients.
Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service (TCHHS) director of medical services (Eastern) Dr Natasha Coventry described the situation as a win for the region.
“This is an incredibly exciting milestone and we’re proud to celebrate the impact it will have for rural patients,” she said of the resource at Cooktown Multipurpose Health Service.
“We need more people to do the faecal occult blood test as part of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program.
“By having endoscopy services available locally, we hope more people will take the test and, if it returns a positive result, access timely endoscopic care closer to home.”
Dr Coventry said the service had the capacity to do up to about 50 endoscopies in a six-month period. It then planned to move to a sustainable locally run service.
“The big advantage of offering colonoscopies locally is that patients can now complete their bowel preparation at home, then come into hospital for a couple of hours and return home the same day.
“With colonoscopy being a procedure undertaken under sedation, patients need to be picked up by someone. That’s much easier to facilitate when close to home.
“Currently, if patients need to go to Cairns or elsewhere for a colonoscopy, they must go to a hotel or other accommodation.”
She said due to preparation, travel times and suggested breaks, the relatively short procedure could end up taking a patient and carer/driver three days.
“This may mean local residents don’t do the faecal occult blood test as they’re not prepared to have the colonoscopy given the inconvenience of going to Cairns or elsewhere.
“We are hoping to change that with the service now available locally.’’
GP endoscopist Dr Shane Sadleir – who is delivering the new service – has been assisted by GP anaesthetist Dr Dan Hook. Both were raised in Cooktown.
Dr Sadleir said offering endoscopy locally not only improved access to care for the community but also had the potential to save lives.
He said bowel cancer was the fourth most frequently diagnosed cancer and the second biggest cancer-related killer in Australia, but many of these deaths could be prevented if diagnosed and treated earlier.
“Queensland Health data shows bowel cancer [testing] has a significantly lower overall participation rate in rural and remote regions than for Queensland as a whole,’’ Dr Sadleir said.
The new service is being delivered in partnership with the Metro South Hospital and Health Service and Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service.
Professor Gerald Holtmann, director of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, said addressing the gap in gastrointestinal health outcomes between metropolitan and remote regions was the foundation of the partnership.
“Too many rural patients present with late-stage colorectal cancer that could have been prevented,’’ Prof. Holtmann said.
“By bringing care closer to home in rural and remote centres such as Cooktown, we can improve access to life-saving colonoscopies that can lead to earlier diagnosis.”
