Page 1933 - Week 07 - Thursday, 20 August 1992
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Mr Kaine mentioned concerns with the Royal Canberra Hospital that were raised by Mrs Carnell. I mention a couple of those to indicate why the people might think that the Acton Peninsula site is the best spot. Firstly, we could look at the six-floor tower block, the previous private ward, becoming a hospice on Acton Peninsula. It has 43 single rooms. It has a VIP suite. It is a beautiful spot that could be used for counselling. There has been some suggestion that there is a lack of counselling facilities. That would be ideal. I think it is well known that much of the Royal Canberra Hospital was repainted a couple of years before the decision was made to close it. As for beds and other equipment being available, I believe that much is stored at Mitchell. The food for the people on Acton Peninsula could readily be brought in from Woden Valley Hospital kitchens.
Mr Kaine said that you need to place these facilities close to shopping centres. Well, prior to the closure of Royal Canberra Hospital they had a post office, a credit union, a bank and a shop. Those same places could be re-established on Acton Peninsula. There could be a small supermarket incorporating those services. Shoe repairs, dry cleaning, sewing and various other services could very easily be arranged. They could be picked up and delivered to the hospital. There are no relevant suggestions that I have heard that would prevent people from being on Acton Peninsula, as occurred for many years. Who would suggest that it is easy to get from Woden Valley Hospital to the shops?
One of the major points about locating a hospice and other places for health care on Acton Peninsula is the beauty of the place. We all acknowledge that. There is no doubt that people there will recover more rapidly. If they are in a hospice there they will find it a far better place to stay than other locations - Woden, certainly. There is no noise pollution there. There is no traffic pollution. It would be a perfect spot for terminally ill patients. They do not particularly need to have specialists visiting them on a regular basis. Their GPs could well handle that function.
We also need convalescent and nursing home services. They could be established at the Acton Peninsula. We have some 1,000 people waiting for operations in the ACT, some for as long as 3 years. That is a most remarkable situation. Unfortunately, some people on the waiting lists have had to pay for operations at John James Hospital. There simply was no other choice for them. It would be ideal if patients could be transferred to Acton Peninsula to convalesce after their operations. That would be the perfect spot. It would be far better than Woden, I suggest.
There is concern for slow-stream rehabilitation, and that also could be done on Acton Peninsula. Many of the patients could be taken to the foreshores to enjoy the beauty of the lake. There are suggestions that H Ward and the isolation ward could be used for rehabilitation. There is merit in that. There would be some costs associated with that, perhaps, that would not be associated to the same degree with the six-floor tower block. We understand that we cannot send everybody home after their operations. There are various people that we have to maintain for a time. The Royal Canberra Hospital site on Acton Peninsula is the ideal spot for that.
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