Page 2918 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 12 October 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
At Calvary Public Hospital, we are funding four more inpatient beds and intensive care capacity to meet demand on the north side, while also growing outpatient appointments. With part of the government’s $12.1 million investment to support our 10-year public maternity services plan, the government has also committed to expanding the Calvary Public Hospital Bruce special care nursery by three cots and establishing a new gestational diabetes mellitus service for the north of Canberra.
Specialist health services for children and young people are also being expanded, with the establishment of a neurodevelopmental and behavioural assessment and treatment service, focused investment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and the expansion of the Child at Risk Health Unit. As members would be aware, these initiatives speak to the government’s aim to deliver better care when and where people need it. We are boosting surgeries, procedures and outpatient appointments, delivering more beds and cots to meet the demand we have seen grow due to COVID-19 and the growth in our community.
Mr Assistant Speaker Davis, you spoke about our workforce. We know that we cannot deliver these new and expanded services to the community without the skill, compassion and dedication of our health workers. This budget reflects our commitment to grow our workforce to lighten the load, to plan for the future and to invest in the culture and safety of our workforce. The government is boosting our acute allied health workforce across Canberra, with more than 40 full-time equivalent positions progressively rolled out across our emergency department, intensive care unit, and women, youth and children services over the next four years.
This $16.3 million investment will deliver significant benefits for Canberrans, reducing length of stay, improving patient recovery and outcomes, and reducing readmissions. The first tranche of this investment will see more allied health professionals employed in our emergency department to drive better outcomes for those who need it most.
Reflecting on your comments, Mr Assistant Speaker, I would say that we need nurse-led care, both in our emergency department and in our fantastic walk-in centres. I was very pleased that Tuggeranong was able to reopen to full hours recently, and I am also extremely pleased that the inner north walk-in centre will reopen in November, which is fantastic for constituents in my own electorate. But we can, in fact, do both.
The investments in this budget will fund 100 new full-time equivalent staff in 2022-23, growing to more than 170 full-time equivalent staff in 2023-24. These investments, though, should not be seen in isolation. Our investments in this term of government have meant that, since the 2020-21 budget, we have committed funding to employ 400 more frontline healthcare staff. Members present will recall this was a key commitment to deliver more healthcare workers for our public system in the last election—more doctors, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals during this term of government. I am pleased to say that we have not only met this commitment but we will have met it two years ahead of schedule. We will see over 510 more frontline healthcare workers funded by the time of the 2024 election, so far, and we know that we still have subsequent budgets to come.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video