Minister too sick to return to work

The police Minister last revealed in April she had hoped to return to work at the end of June.

But in a statement on Friday afternoon Ms Neville said doctors had advised she is not yet physically able to return to the demands of her job and was instead eyeing a comeback in August “at some point”.

“This additional delay has been personally very disappointing to me, but my doctors have a plan and I anticipate that all going well, I will be able to return at some point in August – subject to medical advice,” she wrote.

“Every recovery from bowel surgery is different. The more serious the condition is when having surgery, the more likely recovery will be slower.

“In my case, by the time my initial surgery occurred on 6 April, the small bowel was in a critical condition.

“I was in hospital for four weeks following surgery, including one week in the Intensive Care Unit given the seriousness of my condition.”

Ms Neville said she underwent a second surgery on April 15.

“Even after I returned home ongoing complications meant I was admitted for a further week in late May to try to get my symptoms once again under control,” she said.

Ms Neville needed to have weekly infusions after the surgery to provide the nutrients her body was struggling to retain, she said.

“I am working hard to rebuild my physical and mental strength, after so long battling this flare-up and the toll the surgeries and complications have taken.

“To say this experience shook me is an understatement. Particularly my week in ICU. Despite the best possible medical care, finding out I had reached that level of seriousness gave me a very real scare.”

Crohn’s disease is a chronic condition causing painful inflammation of the bowel and digestive tract. Close to 75,000 Australians suffer from it or related forms of inflammatory bowel disease.

Ms Neville has previously said she has managed the disease for the past 32 years, but the latest episode had been “the worst I have been confronted with”.

Her portfolios of police and emergency services have been temporarily taken over by Danny Pearson.