Australia’s vast and sparsely populated interior mirrors the organ donation challenges facing regional communities.
Significant strides have been made to increase donation rates, with a doubling in the number of deceased donors since 2009, and the number of transplant recipients has risen by 81 per cent.
But Australia still sits at a lowly 22 in national rankings of organ donation rates – one of the lowest for a first world country.
It is sobering fact, given regional residents can be thousands of kilometres from expert care.
Of the 74,000 deaths that occurred in 2015, 920 resulted in organ transplants. Sick people in the bush awaiting transplants may be driven to relocate to major cities, to be at hand at major hospitals when organs become available.
They may even miss out on the window of opportunity for potentially life-saving transplants if they are too far from a facility capable of performing the necessary surgery.
Donate Life, officially the Commonwealth’s Organ and Tissue Authority, was established to promote donation. National medical director Helen Opdam said the government authority had achieved a lot since the government reform which brought it into being eight years ago, but more work was needed.
“Last year in Australia there were 1448 people who received a transplant, which was close to the number of people waiting for a transplant (which has between 1500 and 1600 on the waiting list).
Ms Opdam said it is expected that rising donor rates, bringing greater organ availability, would encourage more people come onto the transplant waiting list.
Megan McLoughlin, organ transplant recipient and leader of the Herd of Hope charity cattle drive, said donation post-operative care, as well as donation rates, needed significant improvement.
“The biggest challenge for transplant recipients is isolation. After the operation, we get a pat on back and we’re told to just go forward and conquer. But you’re medication makes you crazy, your hair falls out, and there are mental health challenges and survivor guilt.”
Team-based care top priority
BETTER co-ordination of health care providers is needed to address the significant challenges confronting regional organ transplants recipients, says Rural Doctors Association of Australia president Ewen McPhee.
“The pathway from specialist service provision to General Practitioners is fraught,” Dr McPhee said.
Stringent treatment plans are issued by specialists, often involving immuno-suppressants with heavy side effects, which must be supported at a local level, from GPs to emergency services.
”Often, the further you are from major centres you are the poorer the communication and worse the outcome. That shouldn’t be the case,” Dr McPhee said.
Team-based health care should be promoted in regional areas, including specialist care nurses, which means a serious commitment from government, Dr McPhee said.
Visit www.donatelife.gov.au for information on discussing organ donation with loved ones and becoming an organ donor.
