Page 1527 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 2 May 1990
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MS FOLLETT: He got 22 out of 100 on his lunch. The Fraenkel report, which Mr Humphries tabled in the Assembly this week, on page 20 states:
The transformation of one of the Canberra hospitals into a University Hospital will involve large expenditures, both capital and recurrent.
Could he inform the Assembly whether he accepts that statement. Would it in any way deter his commitment to that concept?
MR HUMPHRIES: The short answer is yes, I am aware, and no, it does not. I will not sit down, however, after having said that. I think this would be borne out by a careful reading of the statement that I made yesterday in the house, but I want to make it clear that the Government supports the concept of a university hospital, a teaching hospital, in the ACT but has not made any commitment at this stage to providing one.
I would very much like to come into this place and say that, as part of the hospital redevelopment, we will and can provide such a service. However, I cannot do that because of many unanswered questions, particularly the costing of that. Ms Follett will be aware that the Fraenkel report did not cost the proposal, at least not with any accuracy, and therefore any responsible government has to examine the cost implications of proceeding with this decision before it finally makes it.
As I said, I support the concept. I will be pursuing it in an attempt to develop a concrete proposal to incorporate a university teaching hospital into the framework of our principal hospital at Woden Valley, but I cannot guarantee that it will occur until I know how much it will cost and until all the other details are settled to our satisfaction.
MS FOLLETT: I have a supplementary question. I have that section of the Fraenkel report here, and one of the quotations in it that troubled me was:
... we were impressed by the willingness of those in charge of the hospital service to consider substantial additional funding in the interests of raising the standard of patient care.
Mr Speaker, I ask Mr Humphries whether he was similarly impressed. If it is not him, who would he consider to be "those in charge of the hospital service"?
MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, it could well be that those to whom the report refers were officers who served the hospital system when Mr Berry was Minister for Health. That report started some time ago, some time before I came into my position, and finished only shortly after I took office, as I recall. So it is more likely than not that
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