Page 5130 - Week 17 - Wednesday, 12 December 1990
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Mr Speaker, there are a few things that I would like to draw attention to in relation to the health board. Prior to the election I was responsible for establishing the original idea of a Board of Health. The policy stated:
The establishment of a Board of Health will be a high priority for the Residents Rally -
as I was then a member -
Membership of the Board will be honorary. The Board will go well beyond the "two hospital board" suggested by Dr Brendan Kearney ...
Further on in that policy I indicated quite clearly, along the same lines as Mr Humphries is running today, that what I was interested in was having an overall conceptual health board that would look after not just hospital care, but the broad range of health cares that Mr Humphries has referred to.
I shall not re-cover that ground. However, what I will say is that it seems to me that the board will only be as good as the people on it, and by and large the individuals on that board are, of course, very competent people and interested in health issues. I quite accept that. However, it seems to me that the make-up of the actual board that Mr Humphries has nominated is inadequate in that it fails to represent broadly enough the health promotion side of things. In particular, mental health seems to me to be inadequately represented. If the Board of Health is to be successful, it ought to have started with a fresh approach rather than taking the old hospitals board and basically reconstructing it with a couple of little peripheral additions and making that into the new health board.
So, I think that we have a problem in that there is inadequate representation in terms of health promotion, and particularly in terms of community nursing. I think that many health areas are recognising now that the new way ought to be into community nursing, and we ought to be putting our emphasis on community nursing, both in training and in providing care through that area. It is quite clear that at this stage, under the Alliance Government, rather than being promoted, community nursing in Canberra is suffering quite a smashing. This is particularly so in the northern areas where we can see that community nurses and community nursing areas are actually being closed down. I refer to O'Connor, Hackett and Dickson, where community nursing is suffering the same sorts of cuts as are happening in other areas.
It is the wrong spot, and I am sure that a broad understanding of the need to promote health will indicate that the community nursing area is the area to push. Even if you do not take into account what is best for the people from a straight economic view, the promotion of community
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