Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) chronic gastroenterological disorders affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of Australians;

(b) inflammatory bowel diseases affect 61,000 people, including 28,000 suffering from Crohn's disease and 33,000 with ulcerative colitis;

(c) inflammatory bowel disease often develops between the ages of 15 and 30, but it can start at any age; increasingly it is being seen in children;

(d) it is estimated that 120,000 Australians have the functional gut motility disorder gastroparesis; and

(e) gastroenterological disorders require urgent attention; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) address funding to patient support, medical research and treatment in gastroenterological disorders; and

(b) consider the call by the University of Western Sydney to establish an Australian Translational Gastroenterology Centre to:

  (i) facilitate community awareness of gastroenterological disorders across Australia through community workshops, seminars and symposiums;

  (ii) promote support for gastrointestinal disorders at hospitals and primary health networks across Australia;

  (iii) develop a gut tissue bank for research;

  (iv) initiate and maintain a patient registry of gastrointestinal disorders; and

  (v) support local strategies to enhance treatment of gastrointestinal disorders in rural and remote areas and in Indigenous populations.

Through this motion, I seek to raise awareness of gastrointestinal disorders, including Crohn's disease, all of them commonly known as 'gut disorders'. These are diseases of which many people are largely unaware, but, for the hundreds of thousands of Australians who suffer these illnesses, and for their families, they are very real. The people affected generally suffer in silence due to the perceived stigma associated with these disorders that obviously can also involve the disturbance of basic bodily functions. Crohn's disease causes inflammation of the full thickness of the bowel wall and can occur in any part of the gastrointestinal tract.

I have become acutely aware of Crohn's disease ever since my grandson Nathaniel was diagnosed with it two years ago. Crohn's, along with being on the autism spectrum, is a lot for this 13-year-old to handle.

Inflammatory bowel disease often develops in people between the ages of 15 to 30, but it is increasingly presenting itself in children. Essentially, gastrointestinal or GI motility is responsible for digestion—the movement of food from the mouth through the oesophagus, stomach and intestines and bowel, all of which can feature in gut disorders. The GI motility clinic at the University of Western Sydney regularly sees children and young people with non-specific gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. The effects, particularly on young people, can be quite debilitating, impacting their education and stopping young people from fully enjoying social activities during their formative years, as well as affecting their prospects of employment.

The annual cost of managing inflammatory bowel disease is substantial. A recent study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that the total cost to the community is in the vicinity of $100 million annually. Much of the cost can be attributed to delayed diagnosis as well of suboptimal medical therapy, whereas the loss of economic productivity attributable to inflammatory bowel disease in Australia is estimated to be over $360 million.

I would like to pay tribute to the researchers, clinicians and advocates who are working hard to increase awareness of these diseases in the community and who are helping sufferers of these debilitating diseases. In particular, I acknowledge Dr Vincent Ho, Director of the GI Motility Disorders Unit at the University of Western Sydney, along with his colleagues Elie Hammam and Jennifer Greer; and, from Crohn's Awareness Australia, Josie Furfaro, Sam Romeo, Angelo Romeo, Melina Gerace and Cathy Gullo. I also take the time to acknowledge the Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Western Sydney, Professor Annemarie Hennessy, for her strong support for research and treatment of gut disorders.

I would like to share a poem written by a very special young woman in my electorate, Ashley Allum, herself a sufferer of a disorder known as gastroparesis, but she is a very committed advocate for fellow gut-disorder sufferers. She wrote:

Over three years ago my life had changed,

Just like that, my diet had to be drastically rearranged.

Felt like a cold that comes on real quick,

Just woke up one morning feeling incredibly sick.

No words can describe how this feels,

When all I can eat are very small meals.

To go from feeling healthy to oh so sick the next.

This unknown illness seems to have everyone completely perplexed.

Pain, nausea and fullness too,

These are the words that describe my illness to you.

Others less fortunate than Ashley often go undiagnosed for years, as there is a distinct lack of awareness about chronic gastroenterological conditions, even in parts of the medical community.

I praise the work conducted by UWS and I support their quest to establish a patient registry as well as a centre that would serve as a gut-tissue bank for the purposes of research. Such a centre would allow national collaborative research between clinicians and scientists on this issue.

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