Page 3197 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 18 November 1992
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Mr Cornwell: I bet you could not answer that question with your hands behind your back; but go on.
MR BERRY: You are probably right. You would run into budget problems, the same as Mr Humphries did. No action was taken to do anything about it.
Mr Humphries: And you did in 1989?
MR BERRY: Indeed, in 1989 we handed the problem over to you. That was a big flop. Fancy doing that! Fancy handing a problem over to Mr Humphries to try to get it fixed! It got worse. We have been able to hold the budget process together. I table again, Madam Speaker, with the approval of the Assembly, the business rules; call them what you like - the supplementation rules, the guidelines for supplementation. Whatever you like to call them, there are the business rules.
Over the course of 1991-92 there were variations to Commonwealth funding for specific purpose programs, and that was picked up in the business rules, guidelines for supplementation - increased labour costs. As with other programs, the health budget was developed on the understanding that increases in labour costs caused by award variations would be supplemented. In Health's case, this includes not only wage and salary awards - this is what you were also told about; I just need to reinforce the memory - but also variations to contracts by which visiting medical officers are engaged. So, the same arrangements apply in relation to those.
A number of significant legal claims were finalised. These relate to things that you cannot anticipate. Mr Kaine may not know, because he did not seem to be right on top of the supplementation arrangements during the Estimates Committee meetings. These relate to events that occurred several years ago and, as such, it would be a bit unreasonable to try to anticipate the outcome of a settlement. The total supplementation, which has never been a secret, was $8.9m. The supplementation is always considered very closely by Treasury. As I have said, the difference between us and them, and we are poles apart, is that we are able to manage the way that we operate our hospital system. The board of - - -
Mr Humphries: How much are you over?
MR BERRY: I have said to you that there is a trend. Listen carefully. There is always a trend at this time of the year for higher activity levels and therefore expenditure climbs at this time. If you do not take account of those increasing trends and arrange the way you provide hospital services over the following months, you end up with a budget problem. I think everybody understands that. The board last year put in place a bed management strategy which took advantage of low activity periods, low demand periods over Christmas.
Mr Kaine: No patients.
MR BERRY: People that are on the list for elective surgery quite often do not want to use the hospital system over the Christmas period and so - - -
Mr Humphries: How much?
MR BERRY: You will have to wait until the end of the year. We will put in place, as I have said, a program - - -
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