Page 4409 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 21 November 1990
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Hospital - which was going to be closed a year later. I might add that in the advertisement the hospital was much closer to Civic than it really is. The advertisement said that it was only a five-minute walk. I do not think you could ride the distance that quickly on a pushbike, let alone walk it.
The fact of the matter is that there is mismanagement throughout the hospital system, and that is why it is in trouble. It is no surprise that morale is low. This Government is demolishing the health system and workers who want a career are finding it difficult to stay in those jobs. This Minister has to concede that he cannot fully staff our ACT hospitals and he cannot recruit enough nurses. It is not only because of a shortage of nurses throughout Australia; it is also because of this Government's management of hospital services in this Territory. That is what it is about.
Mr Humphries: Prove it.
MR BERRY: If you want any proof of that, have a look at the long line-up of people who are trying to get jobs here, if it is a good place to work. They are leaving in droves.
One of the best performance indicators of a hospital system is the waiting lists. The waiting lists have exploded under this Minister. Since this time last year the waiting lists have grown by about 500. That is 500 more people who are in many cases waiting for pain relieving surgery in our hospital system. This Minister does not seem to care. The best he can come up with is a smokescreen - "Minister establishes hospital list monitoring committee". What a joke. I have read through this press release. There is no mention at all of increasing activity in the hospital system, no mention at all of providing extra beds. There is not one mention of it. He is establishing a hospital list monitoring committee. I suppose we will be able to get access to the figures more regularly, because they have been pretty difficult to get from the Minister. But I am not sure - - -
Mr Humphries: You got the ones that you released in the media release. Where did you get them from then?
MR BERRY: You could not provide them in the Estimates Committee, Minister, and it took weeks to get them from your office. Perhaps we will get them more freely now. At least the people of the ACT will know how bad it is more quickly. That is about all they can hope to achieve from the hospital list monitoring committee. As I said, there are 1,400 people on the waiting list, and those are the people who suffer at the hands of this Government. The Government is not doing anything to shorten this list. The hospital list monitoring committee will not help much.
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