POST-FEDERAL BUDGET RESPONSE: AUSTRALIAN THYROID FOUNDATION 1 million Australians with undiagnosed thyroid disorders remain at risk of irreparable damage
At the Post Budget Breakfast hosted by AIPS and Medicines Australia, the Honourable Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care spoke about the health priorities of the Federal Budget 2024-25.
As with all Federal Budgets, there is a submission process to lodge requests by January of each year. For the Federal Budget this year, there were 788 submissions lodged, one of which was by The Australian Thyroid Foundation Ltd (ATF).
The ATF is a national not-for-profit organisation with charity status aimed at patients and the healthcare community. The ATF’s focus is to support and educate its member base and promote our Good Thyroid Health Messaging throughout the Australian Community.
Australian Thyroid Foundation, CEO Beverley Garside attending the breakfast gave her response to the Federal Budget and the Foundation’s pre-budget submission, which was not granted.
The 3 requests for funding were for,
1. Education tool kit for health care professionals, to use during patient presentations
2. Broad media campaign aimed at young families moving away from standard dietary choices and awareness about the importance of iodine and thyroid health
3. Dietary book for senior Australians with an iodine slant to improve health outcomes, with healthy living choices.
According to the ATF, over 1 million Australians are living with an undiagnosed thyroid disorder. These disorders can affect children, pregnant women, families and the elderly.
I'm Beverley Garside, the CEO of the Australian Thyroid Foundation. The Australian Thyroid Foundation is primarily a patient support organisation. We advocate for patients. We help patients in many different ways. We also have the ability to help healthcare professionals, with the support of our medical advisory board, with honorary membership to our organisation, to be educated by our healthcare professionals to improve outcomes for thyroid patients. With over 1 million Australians undiagnosed with a thyroid disorder, our work is essential and our awareness programs our primary focus. Our pre-budget submission was primarily focused on three areas. The most important area was education for healthcare professionals. To have a toolkit to understand how to identify, how to treat and test patients, to ensure that no one is overlooked and patients get the best care that they can. Today, I'm attending the Post Budget Breakfast sponsored by Medicines Australia with the Honourable Mark Butler. Our pre budget submission we were unsuccessful, which is very disappointing because, as I previously said, there are over 1 million Australians living with an undiagnosed thyroid disorder. An awareness, education and care are our priority and without getting funding, we won't be able to do this. and we're very disappointed that we weren't accepted. We would like to be considered in the future because it's a very, very important health issue that can affect children, pregnant women, families and the elderly. Today, I've met lots of healthcare professionals, primary health nurses, pharmaceutical companies, pharmacists, all sorts of different people, and we're all collaborating together to discuss how to improve outcomes for patients. That's the important message, making sure that everybody in Australia has the best health outcomes they can.
