Page 845 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 20 April 2021
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home is not only more convenient for people but improves outcomes for Canberrans. That is why a fundamental pillar of our health plan was to deliver care closer to home, and the 2020-21 budget continues our ongoing work on delivering in this space.
A key element of our commitment was to deliver medical imaging services co-located at the Weston Creek walk-in centre. I am pleased to advice that the budget has committed $10.9 million in funding, including $5.7 million in capital, to develop and operate the new medical imaging outpatient service. This service will provide the community with access to commonly required diagnostic medical imaging, including ultrasounds, X-rays and CT scans. This new service will be conveniently located and will help to reduce wait times to eligible outpatients and reduce pressure on the Canberra Hospital emergency department and inpatient services.
We know how important it is to improve this access. Whether the member’s constituents present to one of our walk-in centres or a GP after injuring themselves, with this new service they will be able to get quick access to timely care without needing to attend one of our emergency departments for medical imaging. This funding will continue the government’s work on delivering our election commitments and improving access to health care for Canberrans when and where people need it.
DR PATERSON: Minister, can you advise the Assembly on how the government is working to deliver better integrated care by moving more services off the Canberra Hospital campus and closer to home?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Dr Paterson for the supplementary question. It is a key question as we continue to deliver better care for Canberrans: how we move services off the hospital campus, which is better for the hospital but is also better for patients, their families and carers. As members would recall, during the election campaign we committed to develop and implement five new walk-in health centres to complement our existing walk-in centres and community health centres. These new services are aimed at meeting the twin objectives of delivering more services when and where people need them and integrating more with existing local services.
I was pleased to see the AMA’s support and excitement as we continue to develop these new local health hubs in partnership with our non-government providers, our GP counterparts, including the Capital Health Network, as well as with our acute services.
As we stated through the election, these new centres will complement and support our existing services by delivering a mix of appointment-based and immediate care, depending on each location and each local community’s needs. The 2020-21 budget funded the first of these new centres to be piloted in partnership with the National Health Co-op in Coombs, and this centre will focus on health care for women, children and young families in the area. This partnership presents a chance to deliver better integration of care with general practice for a growing community of families in the Molonglo region and will be operational in July 2021.
In addition to our first hub at Coombs the government also committed $2 million in feasibility and site selection for the four additional centres. Through this project
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