Page 4866 - Week 16 - Tuesday, 26 November 1991
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years - then the first block will be redeveloped, which will provide more and better quality accommodation for the public tenants of the second block, and so the redevelopment proposal will go ahead.
It is abundantly clear to anyone who looks at the state of some of the flats that were built in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Canberra that they leave a lot to be desired and that it is appropriate, as part of redeveloping the inner parts of Canberra, that we upgrade the quality of our public housing in the inner city area. This Government is proud to be part of a project of upgrading the quality of the public accommodation in the inner city areas in collaboration with our colleagues in the Federal Government.
Chapman Hostel
DR KINLOCH: My question is addressed to Mr Connolly in his role as Minister for Community Services. I have talked with some very worried parents of residents of Chapman Hostel and the respite care centre in Finniss Crescent run by Intellectual Disability Services, and there is a letter on this subject in the Canberra Times today. The parents have several concerns - including, they claim, an inadequate number of nursing staff but, more specifically, medical and personal problems for female residents when there are no female staff, especially nursing staff, on duty. These parents would also welcome parental representatives on a board of management, which I understand was an initiative when Mr Collaery was Minister. Could the Minister undertake to look into and respond to these matters?
MR CONNOLLY: I thank Dr Kinloch for the courtesy of giving us some advance notice that he would be asking this question, so that we can respond in some detail. After I have responded I offer Dr Kinloch the opportunity to speak to officers of my department, who can fill him in on further detail. When a new career structure was introduced in August 1990 for staff working within IDS, IDS nursing resources were transferred to the ACT Board of Health as a part contribution to establishing the Community Nursing Service's intellectual disability program. So, the program that was once run within IDS solely is now split across the two portfolios - my colleague Mr Berry's health portfolio and mine.
The transfer occurred only after the nursing needs of IDS residents were assessed and parents were consulted. IDS's own staff were able to pick up many of the duties that had previously been undertaken by nurses, such as management roles. However, IDS has contracted the Community Nursing Service to ensure that residents' nursing needs are met.
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