Page 6198 - Week 19 - Tuesday, 17 December 1991
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hardly add that one aspect of this progressive hospital style is to expect very high levels of communication between clients of hospital services and clinicians so that issues such as informed consent to testing are very thoroughly addressed.
Another major benefit which will flow from the development of a clinical school in Canberra is the significantly enhanced ability to recruit high-quality staff across all health professional groups. We have already seen some examples of this improved recruitment ability through the hospital redevelopment program alone, and certainly creating a more satisfied and challenging work environment will not only lead to a greater ability to attract staff but also improve career prospects for staff in later years. Medical undergraduates specifically are usually more readily retained and available in the local system. These students tend to stay in the city in which they are trained.
The sorts of challenging of existing practices I referred to earlier can also be expected to lead to improved efficiencies in the provision of existing services so that testing procedures are used in the most appropriate way possible. There will also, of course, be a much greater capacity to attract research funds from a variety of national bodies which provide funding for health research.
The responsible position of government, however, is to ask what these benefits will cost the ACT community. This question has been carefully scrutinised over recent months. Firstly, the broader issue needs to be considered. According to national reports, Australia as a whole does not want to encourage an increase in the supply of medical practitioners, as supply can be demonstrated to relate to the level of services provided. This is considered high in Australia by international standards. In addition, any increased costs for training an existing number of students need to be taken into account.
In mid-September this year, Mr Speaker, the University of Sydney put forward a detailed proposal to the ACT Board of Health, at the Board of Health's request, outlining a model for a clinical school for undergraduate training which could be developed in the Australian Capital Territory. Essentially, this proposal would involve the attraction of up to 30 students a year to the ACT public hospital system so that they would complete the final three years of their six-year undergraduate course in Canberra.
The University of Sydney is interested in this development. At the moment it is changing a number of its practices in relation to other clinical schools in New South Wales. It is particularly keen, Mr Speaker, to encourage the development of a unique curriculum for Canberra which draws on the existing skills and expertise acknowledged nationally to be present in the ACT. The particular areas of emphasis proposed are those of community health and aged care and basic science.
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