Widow says husband's last days are proof of WA's 'broken' health system
His wife, Jenny Cross, said that was the reality of navigating Western Australia's struggling public health system with her late husband.
It was a six-month ordeal of emotional distress as Ms Cross searched for answers to his deteriorating health.
"Just after Christmas last year he had started to lose a lot of weight for no known reason," Ms Cross said.
"He had a bad bleed in March so I took him to the emergency department in Busselton."
Mr Cross waited 12 hours to be transferred from Busselton Health Campus to Bunbury Regional Hospital, only to spend another three hours ramped outside.
Within 24 hours he had been moved between five different beds.
Ms Cross said there was no communication between the hospitals about a blood transfusion Mr Cross desperately needed.
"They gave him a CT scan and couldn't see anything wrong so he was just sent home with a referral for a colonoscopy and a gastroscopy," she said.
"The results were nothing, apparently. I tried to book a PET scan he had a referral for but I never heard back.
Mr Cross was in and out of hospital over the next six months as his condition deteriorated.
Ms Cross recalled PA announcements in Bunbury Hospital asking for staff to work overtime.
She also said she had specialists advising them to have tests as outpatients to save time.
In the end, the Cross family "gave up" on the public health system and took Kevin to St John of God Murdoch.
After 15 days in the hospital he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on July 3.
By then his organs were failing and his heart was operating at just 10 per cent of its usual strength.
Mr Cross died two weeks later on July 18, leaving behind his wife, three children and eight grandchildren.
Ms Cross said Kevin would be remembered for his warm and friendly nature.
"Anyone you spoke to would say he was a really nice guy who would do anything to help you if he could," Ms Cross said.
"I don't know if an earlier diagnosis would have made any difference in the end, but he could have been a lot more comfortable and had more time."
She said she knew the system was bad but did not fully understand until she experienced it with her husband.
Australian Medical Association WA branch president Kyle Hoath said the issues described by Ms Cross, including ramping, bed shuffling and general delays, were apparent across the entire public health system.
"It breaks my heart when we hear this happening, particularly in the regions," Dr Hoath said.
"But unfortunately none of this surprises me anymore.
"It's a symptom of a larger problem — we don't have enough staff capacity and burnout rates are high in Bunbury."
In June, ambulances spent 240 hours ramped in regional areas, with Bunbury Hospital accounting for 85 per cent of total ramping.
Dr Hoath said the Cook government needed to acknowledge the problem so solutions could be found.
"Bunbury is just under intense pressure right now."
The state government and WA Country Health Service were contacted for comment.
Meanwhile, Ms Cross said she and her family had been left to deal with losing Mr Cross.
"They [the state government] just need to listen and understand it's actual human beings they're dealing with," she said.
"And stop wasting so much money on stuff like that racetrack, the rugby and movie sets. Just listen to what people want.
"We're not just statistics, we're real people with real families and real lives to live."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Widow says husband's last days are proof of WA's 'broken' health system
Kevin Cross had lay bleeding while ramped outside a hospital, was shifted to five different beds in one day, was cared for by an exhausted staff and faced delay upon delay. His wife, Jenny Cross, said that was the reality of navigating Western Australia's struggling public health system with her late husband. It was a six-month ordeal of emotional distress as Ms Cross searched for answers to his deteriorating health. "Just after Christmas last year he had started to lose a lot of weight for no known reason," Ms Cross said. "He had a bad bleed in March so I took him to the emergency department in Busselton." Mr Cross waited 12 hours to be transferred from Busselton Health Campus to Bunbury Regional Hospital, only to spend another three hours ramped outside. Within 24 hours he had been moved between five different beds. Ms Cross said there was no communication between the hospitals about a blood transfusion Mr Cross desperately needed. "They gave him a CT scan and couldn't see anything wrong so he was just sent home with a referral for a colonoscopy and a gastroscopy," she said. "The results were nothing, apparently. I tried to book a PET scan he had a referral for but I never heard back. Mr Cross was in and out of hospital over the next six months as his condition deteriorated. Ms Cross recalled PA announcements in Bunbury Hospital asking for staff to work overtime. She also said she had specialists advising them to have tests as outpatients to save time. In the end, the Cross family "gave up" on the public health system and took Kevin to St John of God Murdoch. After 15 days in the hospital he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on July 3. By then his organs were failing and his heart was operating at just 10 per cent of its usual strength. Mr Cross died two weeks later on July 18, leaving behind his wife, three children and eight grandchildren. Ms Cross said Kevin would be remembered for his warm and friendly nature. "Anyone you spoke to would say he was a really nice guy who would do anything to help you if he could," Ms Cross said. "I don't know if an earlier diagnosis would have made any difference in the end, but he could have been a lot more comfortable and had more time." She said she knew the system was bad but did not fully understand until she experienced it with her husband. Australian Medical Association WA branch president Kyle Hoath said the issues described by Ms Cross, including ramping, bed shuffling and general delays, were apparent across the entire public health system. "It breaks my heart when we hear this happening, particularly in the regions," Dr Hoath said. "But unfortunately none of this surprises me anymore. "It's a symptom of a larger problem — we don't have enough staff capacity and burnout rates are high in Bunbury." In June, ambulances spent 240 hours ramped in regional areas, with Bunbury Hospital accounting for 85 per cent of total ramping. Dr Hoath said the Cook government needed to acknowledge the problem so solutions could be found. "Bunbury is just under intense pressure right now." The state government and WA Country Health Service were contacted for comment. Meanwhile, Ms Cross said she and her family had been left to deal with losing Mr Cross. "They [the state government] just need to listen and understand it's actual human beings they're dealing with," she said. "And stop wasting so much money on stuff like that racetrack, the rugby and movie sets. Just listen to what people want. "We're not just statistics, we're real people with real families and real lives to live."
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
WA government reintroduces long-awaited surrogacy, IVF reforms
The WA government will reintroduce legislation to overhaul the state's surrogacy and IVF laws, eight years after it first promised the long-awaited reform. Premier Roger Cook said a bill would be introduced to state parliament on Tuesday that would "streamline and modernise" WA's assisted reproductive laws and "bring WA into line" with the rest of Australia. Mr Cook said the changes would allow more West Australians to start a family because it would remove the requirement for people to demonstrate medical infertility to access assisted reproductive technology, including surrogacy and IVF. It would also allow same-sex male couples, single men, transgender and intersex people to access altruistic surrogacy, which is currently limited to heterosexual couples and single women. "This is an historic day for our state and one that many Western Australians have been waiting for ... in many cases too long." Mr Cook said. The changes have been on the cards for almost a decade, with former Premier Mark McGowan first promising the reforms in 2017 when he led WA Labor to a landslide victory. In 2019, an independent review found the state's surrogacy and assisted reproductive technology laws were "discriminatory" and 25 years out of date. But the government's attempts to modernise the laws were scuttled when Upper House Liberal MP Nick Goiran used one of the longest filibuster speeches in WA Parliament's history to delay a vote on the contentious issue. The bill was then put on the backburner as attention turned to social reforms like voluntary euthanasia, before the COVID pandemic hit. Over the next few years, the legislation languished despite WA Labor gaining total control over both houses at the 2021 election. In 2022, Former Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson appointed a panel of experts to redevelop the laws, but it has taken another three years to get them back on the table. The government will still face roadblocks in getting the new laws across the line this time round, with Mr Goiran still wielding influence in the upper house, where five crossbench MPs could also throw a spanner in the works.
ABC News
2 days ago
- ABC News
Fatal drug overdoses reach 10-year high in Victoria, with people aged between 35 and 54 most at risk
More Victorians died of drug overdoses in 2024 compared to any other year in the past decade, a new report shows. According to latest data from the Coroners Court of Victoria, the state recorded 584 fatal overdoses last year, up from 547 the year prior, with illegal drugs remaining the biggest contributor. While Victoria's annual per capita fatal overdose rate remained more or less stable at around 8.1 deaths per 100,000 people between 2015 and 2024, the report noted a significant increase in the involvement of illicit drugs over the same period. Classed under that category are substances such as heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA, cocaine and GHB. Those drugs peaked in use last year in both metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria, contributing to 65 per cent of the total overdose deaths across the state. That represents a 16 per cent increase from 2015, when illegal drugs contributed to 49 per cent of the state's total overdose deaths. "The concerning rise in overdose deaths and especially those involving illegal drugs is a stark reminder that we need to keep building on our harm reduction efforts," Victorian state coroner John Cain said. Tuesday's data breaks down Victorian overdose deaths by three main categories — illegal, pharmaceutical, and alcohol. The report found that pharmaceutical drug use — although over-represented in the overall overdose deaths last year at 69 per cent — has gradually declined over the decade. Meanwhile, the contribution of alcohol in 2024 was consistent with previous years at a rate of 24 per cent. In the past decade, 5,268 people have died from drug overdoses in Victoria and most of those deaths were from combined drug toxicity. Last year, the five top contributing drugs to fatal overdoses were heroin (248), diazepam (219), methamphetamine (215), alcohol (141) and pregabalin (92). Heroin and methamphetamine-related deaths were the highest in the metropolitan local government areas of Yarra and Melbourne city respectively. In regional Victoria, where about a quarter of total fatal overdoses occurred, Greater Geelong recorded a substantially higher number of deaths in 2024 than in previous years at 35, all but one of which were a result of heroin and meth use. Head of policy and practice at the Victorian Alcohol and Drug Association (VAADA), Scott Drummond, said the figures called for increased treatment resources and prevention initiatives in the illicit drug space. "These deaths are the result of a continuing low level of action or almost inaction in response to drug use in the community," he said. "One of the things that was really problematic was the intense debate around the overdose prevention facility, otherwise known as the safe injecting room. However, 95 people aged 55 to 64 also died from an overdose in 2024, compared to 87 the year prior, with numbers fluctuating across the decade. Victoria first introduced a Medically Supervised Injecting Service (MSIR) trial in North Richmond in 2018. But last year the Allan government turned down recommendations for a second such facility to be set up in the Melbourne CBD. despite data at the time pointing to the City of Melbourne as the deadliest council area for drug deaths. It instead committed to a $95 million Statewide Action Plan. That included a new $36.4 community health service, trial of hydromorphone, more naloxone vending machines, expansion of pharmacotherapy — which involves specialist drugs like methadone and counselling — and the appointment of a chief addiction advisor in the Victorian Department of Health. Naloxone is a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose and comes in the form of a nasal spray, as well as an injection. Under the Take Home Naloxone program launched in 2022, the drug was federally subsidised. But determining which pharmacies or community services can distribute it and how much they are supplied with is up to each state and territory. As part of its health plan the Victorian government also started a mobile pill testing service at music festivals last year. This month it is due to open a fixed site service in Fitzroy. Mr Drummond said those initiatives were welcome but also required a well-funded implementation strategy. "The drug checking service is a great start, but we need to continue to introduce more initiatives, such as increasing the availability of Naloxone, a drug which is easy to administer and reverses opioid overdoses," he said. "We need more overdose prevention facilities, such as the supervised injecting rooms, where the harms are occurring — that's place-based intervention. "We need more resourcing for peer-support services, where folks of lived and living experience of drug and alcohol use can support those that are in the midst of drug and alcohol use. Their support and wisdom is really helpful and really effective. "We need more specialist services responding to misuse of benzodiazepines (a pharmaceutical depressant drug)." Similar measures have also been called for nationally. A five-point prevention strategy recommended last year by The Penington Institute. It has compiled Australia's annual overdose report for 10 years, including drug education, increasing Naloxone access, medication-assisted treatment, drug checking, and supervised consumption. That was based off data showing 2,356 drug-induced deaths across Australia in 2022, 80 per cent of which were unintentional. Victoria's fatal overdose rate was the second-highest in the country after Western Australia.
