Respiratory specialists and others who diagnose patients with silicosis would be required to report to a new national registry under draft laws out for consultation from the Federal Government.
Yet to be publicly released, the legislation is being driven by Lung Foundation Australia (LFA), whose CEO Mark Brooke spoke to the limbic on the side of the TSANZ ASM last weekend.
Mark Brooke
He said the plan was to build on existing registries in jurisdictions such as NSW with the eventual aim of expanding to all occupational lung diseases.
But coupled with that would have to be a “fair and reasonable funding model” to support clinicians in caring for patients with occupational lung diseases, Mr Brooke said.
“These are highly complex cases, really proud men and women who are good at their jobs and have been told they can’t work there anymore,” he told the limbic.
“And prospective data and contemporary data are going to be really important to inform the next steps, which is why we are supportive of mandatory reporting.”
He said the mandatory reporting legislation was just one pillar of a comprehensive silicosis prevention strategy and accompanying action plan which was now in its final phase of development.
This should include a crackdown on the artificial stone benchtop industry and a ban on dry cutting and other techniques which led to hazardous silica dust exposure, Mr Brooke said.
But the foundation’s position was it should also go further, he added.
“We actually need to not just focus on artificial benchtops, but things like quarrying, tunnelling. It’s a vast array of sectors and we need to make sure we have the right levers in place to be able to support the safety of workers in those industries.”
“The tragedy of this is that there are people dying in their late 20s and early 30s because they’ve done their jobs.”
Lung screening
It comes amid a growing number of public policy battles over the lung health of Australians, with action on lung cancer screening, e-cigarette regulation, bushfire smoke, mould and clean air all on the agenda in Canberra in addition to COVID-19.
On lung cancer screening, which was recommended for Medicare funding by the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) last year, Mr Brooke said he was in discussions with the government and hopeful of an announcement in the May budget.
“I’m optimistic, but I’m only optimistic until budget night when I see what it is,” he said.
“My hope is that they will get a pilot program up. They see it as both efficacious and impactful but we’ll have to wait and see.”
Nevertheless, Mr Brooke said it was clear that respiratory health was now front of mind for many in government and elsewhere.
“It would be nice if the pandemic and bushfires had never happened, but the Lung Foundation is here to make to sure that we raise awareness for patients,” he said.
“Lung diseases are three of the top five leading causes of death in this country. We just need to keep prosecuting the case that lungs matter.
Under the draft legislation, doctors would be fined $8250 for failing to report certain information about the patient and their workplace to the Commonwealth registry.
However, after diagnosis, doctors who are treating patients are not obliged to pass on information, and consent must be sought before reporting broader but related information such as a patient’s history as a smoker.