Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1
In November 2009, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on
Health and Ageing (the committee) received a private briefing from Mr
Julian Burton and Professor Fiona Wood OAM on behalf of the Julian Burton Burns
Trust. Professor Wood, Director of the Royal Perth Hospital Burns Unit,
indicated to the committee that she believed burn injuries should be considered
a chronic disease due to the long-term social and health impacts that burn
injuries have on the individual, their family and the Australian society as a
whole. She argued that more work needed to be done to prevent burn injuries
from occurring.
1.2
The committee resolved to hold a public roundtable forum on burns
prevention in Australia to better inform itself of the impact of burn injuries
on individuals and society, as well as ways to minimise or prevent burn
injuries in the first place.
1.3
The committee determined that a public roundtable forum would be the
best manner in which to conduct this inquiry. This forum would afford an
opportunity to gather interested individuals to discuss the issues and
recommend potential solutions.
The roundtable
Parameters of the report
1.4
This report of the public roundtable forum draws together the evidence
received at the public roundtable, and in the written submissions, to reach
conclusions about the need to prevent and minimise burn injury in Australia.
1.5
Chapter two details the extent of burn injuries in Australia including a
definition of burn injuries and the cost of burn injuries to the health system.
Chapter three contains the committee’s discussion and conclusions and is
structured around the following four themes:
- lack of a national
burn injury prevention plan;
- inadequacies in
information and data;
- insufficient national
prevention and education campaigns; and
- complexity of the
care and support that is provided to burns survivors.
Conduct of the roundtable
1.6
The public roundtable was focused on two discussion topics; firstly, the
impact of burn injuries on the individual, the family and the health system;
and secondly, ways to prevent or minimise burn injuries. The discussions sought
to consider the social and financial costs of burn injuries on Australians and
the health system and explore ways that these costs could be minimised.
1.7
The committee selected a number of organisations which would give a
broad range of views and represent diverse interest groups including burns
survivors, medical practitioners, burns support networks and first aid
providers. The participants in the public roundtable discussion, which was held
in Canberra on Monday, 1 February 2010, were as follows:
- Australian and New
Zealand Burn Association;
- Burns South Australia
Aboriginal Burns Program;
- Council on the Ageing
Seniors Voice;
- Australian Government
Department of Health and Ageing;
- Julian Burton Burns
Trust;
- KIDS Foundation;
- St John Ambulance
Australia; and
- several individual
burns survivors.
1.8
In addition to the public roundtable, the committee accepted as evidence
four submissions, four supplementary submissions and one exhibit from
interested persons or organisations. These are listed in Appendices B and C.
1.9
The committee also took the opportunity to visit the Burns Unit at Royal
Perth Hospital on Monday, 15 February 2010. This enabled the committee to gain
further insight into the complexity of treating and managing burns patients
within the medical system. The committee thanks all the staff of the Burns Unit
who took the time to show the committee around the facility.
1.10
The committee would also like to extend its thanks to all of the individuals
and organisations that travelled to Canberra to participate in the public
roundtable, or made submissions to the inquiry. The committee extends specific
thanks to the burns survivors who gave a personal account of their experiences
at the public roundtable. Their evidence has enabled a more in depth
understanding of the imperative of preventing or minimising burn injuries in
the first place.