Page 2209 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 31 October 1989
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already taken place, then I think that the community could find not only another choice for women in how they go about having their children, but also a choice for women that will wind up saving the community a considerable sum of money in terms of long-stay acute hospital beds.
MS MAHER (3.30): My party welcomes the Medicare incentive program outlined in the Minister's statement of 29 June 1989, which was so long ago. The program will be of benefit to the community at large as many patients will be able to decide for themselves their length of stay in hospital.
Firstly, I would like to refer to the early discharge program. Although it is not the most desirable program in terms of services provided for our community, it will certainly be welcomed by most women. Homebirth is an experience that many women would like to participate in but cannot do so fully because of their financial situation, because of their state of health, or because the health of their unborn child is at risk.
In addition, I am told that, as well as the obstetrician's fee for attending a homebirth, there is a fee charged by the midwife for attending of approximately $500, which a lot of families just cannot afford. I note that the Government is planning to establish a birthing centre in the ACT, and I am sure that this initiative will be welcomed by many families. The birthing centre would not only provide a home environment for women giving birth, but also it would have immediate access to emergency care should the need arise, thereby reducing the risk of complications as a result of a delay in medical intervention.
Overall, I believe that the early discharge program is a compromise between hospital and home births because it gives women the advantage of having medical care available during the birth but if they so wish they can go home after the delivery. As the Minister has indicated, in Newcastle up to 30 per cent of those women eligible have taken part in the program, subsequently vacating hospital beds much earlier, not forgetting that there is postnatal care available for them for a week after discharge. This scheme will be successful in Canberra provided that the workload of visiting midwives is not excessive. Perhaps in future there will be a need for extra staff to be employed. The palliative care program presently operating from Calvary Hospital allows for terminally ill patients to be discharged from hospital and cared for by the community groups. I am happy to see provision in the Government's budget to allow patients who are suffering from terminal illnesses, other than cancer, to benefit from this scheme.
The day procedures program is an excellent one. The elderly who are in desperate need of improving their eyesight and who at this stage have to wait for long periods before booking into hospital will have a chance to
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