One in four women and one in three men are diagnosed with cancer in South Australia and medical imaging is crucial for early diagnosis. As the state's Cancer Plan gets its first update in 10 years, more South Australians will soon have access to gold-standard scanners.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Jamie Kernighan was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer 15 years ago when her youngest child was just six months old.
00:10With the help of her medical team she's now stable but needs regular positron emission tomography or PET scans to monitor the disease.
00:18I'm fully aware of the stress and anxiety that goes into scans and waiting for results.
00:25Jamie is one of 7,000 patients who use the advanced technology each year
00:30and two new PET scanners will be up and running at Queen Elizabeth and Flinders Hospitals from early next year,
00:36previously only accessible at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
00:39The scanners are used to find tumours and cancers and also help diagnose heart disease and brain disorders.
00:45These new PET machines are going to mean shorter wait times, it's going to be quicker results
00:51and for many patients it'll mean that they can have these scans closer to home.
00:55It's part of a $77 million state and federal government agreement to build a statewide cancer network over the next four years
01:03and coincides with the new South Australian Cancer Plan, the first update since 2015.
01:09Obviously a lot's changed in that time and this sets the pathway forward for how we can better prevent cancer,
01:15detect cancer, treat cancer, look after patients, undertake world leading research.
01:21The opposition backs the move but a sore point remains.
01:24I welcome any new funding into the healthcare system, particularly with cancer treatment
01:29but sadly the healthcare plan with cancer treatment is still not going to fix ramping.
01:35And as cancer rates rise with an ageing population...
01:39Any investment into cancer for a patient is huge.
01:46It's great.
01:48It's a huge part that I've just been improving
01:52It's a big deal to know about problems and with cancer-based.
01:55It doesn't work.
01:57It's a big deal.
02:02It's a big deal.
02:04It's a big deal.
02:05You grow up.
02:07You don't have to be a humanGM.
02:09That's a big deal.