Vulnerable patients fear implications of stoma nurse shortage

Vulnerable patients fear implications of stoma nurse shortage Sat 8 Aug 2026 at 9:10am In short: Stoma nurses specialise in helping care for patients with urostomy and colostomy bags. SA's largest regional city has lost its two full-time stoma nurses, with one nurse now serving the entire South East region. What's next? Regional advocates say the nurses are vital for patients who may have complications or need support. David Platt was unsure what his future held when he awoke from surgery with a urostomy bag. Living in Mount Gambier, in regional South Australia, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2004, but the disease spread throughout his body, including to his bladder. It required the removal of his bladder and the creation of a stoma, a surgical opening which helped Mr Platt pass waste into the urostomy bag. "I looked down, I thought, 'Well, I've got this thing stuck on me, what do I do?'" Mr Platt said. The first couple of months were difficult for Mr Platt and his wife Paula, but a stoma nurse at Mount Gambier hospital helped him understand his new life. "I think I went up there for about four changes and in the end she said, 'Look, you've mastered it, you can actually do it yourself now,'" he said. Mr Platt eventually came to view the urostomy bag as "just part of my body". But reaching that understanding can take time and support. It is why he tries to help others who are still coming to terms with their own stoma bags. Mr Platt says the medical guidance and support which helped him is under threat by a stoma nurse shortage in Mount Gambier. The largest SA city outside Adelaide has gone from having two full-time staff to one nurse on one day a week. Recruitment troubles More than 200 people in the South East region have some form of stoma and Mr Platt runs the region's stoma support group. Urostomy bags, like Mr Platt uses, collect urine, while colostomy bags collect stool and gas when organs like the colon have been removed. "Stoma bag" is typically used to encompass both types. Mr Platt said while everyday maintenance, such as changing bags, was typically conducted at home, more serious emergencies required a specialist nurse. "I know there's a couple of women have had to go to Adelaide because they can't get the help here," he said. "I mean it's rough really for them to have to travel all the way, especially as they're not young, they're older people in their 80s." Limestone Coast Local Health Network (LCLHN) chief executive Emma Poland said recruitment was underway for a specialist stoma nurse in Mount Gambier. The two previous nurses had left the position for other opportunities. "We acknowledge we face growing competition from intrastate, interstate and overseas for qualified professionals," Ms Poland said. "While we continue recruitment efforts, our Nursing Education Team is providing education on wound, stoma, and continence management to staff across the Limestone Coast region." Ms Poland said staff across the region had received training in wound, stoma and continence management and some staff had undertaken workshops in Adelaide. "LCLHN is also engaging with nursing locum agencies to identify suitably qualified candidates to temporarily support our service," she said. "We are committed to providing a safe and high-quality stoma and continence service to support consumers across our region." Nurse training call Independent Member for Mount Gambier Travis Fatchen has raised the issue in state parliament and called for a rethink of how stoma nursing is incorporated into the health system. He said nursing degrees should look at adding stoma training to the curriculum. "Have they reached out to any of the local nurses to see what is involved to do some further training?" he said. "That may [create] a bit of a buffer where you've got three or four nurses that are day-to-day doing their normal role, but they can be called on if and when needed to help fill these gaps." In South Australia, the qualification course to become a stoma nurse takes a year to complete and costs $14,000. Mr Platt said outside of specialist nurses, stomas were a knowledge gap for some health staff. He said he helped educate a new nurse on basic stoma care during a recent hospital stay. "She said, 'I've never seen one of them before,'" he said. "She's a fully qualified nurse and she didn't know about stoma." Importance of community Helen Colliver helped lead the charge for a permanent stoma nurse in the Yorke Peninsula. She had to travel to Adelaide for support when she first received a stoma after surgery for a perforated bowel. "Fortunately for me, I didn't have a huge amount of trouble, but you're always worried that it might smell or bulge or break all of a sudden," she said. "It really makes you antisocial. "You don't want to go out for fear of embarrassing yourself and everybody else." SA Health appointed a permanent stoma nurse for the Yorke Peninsula in 2021, when the area had about 140 residents in need. Ms Colliver said it made a world of difference to herself and everyone else with a stoma in the community. "At our ostomy meetings, we talk about [how] the things we ask our stoma nurse, people would really be absolutely aghast if they could hear what we talk about, because it would be very embarrassing for them," she said. "But it's quite common for us to talk about."