Page 3809 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 16 October 1991
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The Minister tried to suggest that the inquiry that Mr Humphries is asking for is intended to span the whole spectrum of the ACT Government Service and the whole health delivery system, but that is not what Mr Humphries is talking about. He is talking about a specific point. The specific thing that he wants this committee to look into is the reduction in bed numbers and the consequences of that reduction in bed numbers. The Minister can talk about all of the other things that impact on that. Of course there are other things that impact on the quality of health delivery, but the cut in bed numbers is a very deliberate act on the part of the Government and it must inevitably have consequences.
We can have all the nurses and all the resources in the world; but, if we do not have enough beds to accommodate the patients that front up for surgery and other health care, then it is nonsense to say that the number of beds is irrelevant in determining the quality of the health service. It is just as important as the other factors that the Minister mentioned. The Minister has not yet admitted that there are reductions in those other elements that he talked about. He has not admitted that there is going to be a reduction in the number of nurses in the system, for example, although the indications now are that there will be a reduction in the number of nurses delivering services in the wards in our hospitals.
I have not heard him come out and say that yet, but the suggestion is there. I suppose we could ask a committee to look into the consequences of reducing the number of nurses in our nursing service. That is not what Mr Humphries is proposing. So, that is another factor in the equation. And, just quietly, when this one is finished, if we determine in the course of the investigation that the reduction in the number of nurses in the system is going to have a significant effect too, we may even want to inquire into that. That is another one that the Minister will duck from and run away from, and blame the board and everybody else for.
The fact is that every time you ask this Government for numbers it ducks for cover and gives you rubbery numbers. If you do not believe me, go and talk to the Trades and Labour Council and the Public Sector Union about staff reductions, because they cannot find out from this Government what the staff reductions are going to be. They range from the 250 that the Chief Minister talked about to the 520 that show in the budget papers - or even to 700 if we take note of the number that I heard a trade union official cite the other day.
If they do not know and we do not know, does anybody know? And the rest of the numbers are just as rubbery. The fact is that, if you really want to know, it is no good asking this Minister; it is no good asking this Government. The only way this Assembly, the community, the trade unions and everybody else will find out the consequences of a decision like this - a conscious decision - is to have an inquiry.
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