Page 2744 - Week 09 - Thursday, 26 August 1993
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It seems, certainly according to the senior health officials we spoke to, that in the past they have not done that. They have worked their budgets on what was the case last year, without those sorts of predictions. They have certainly indicated to us that they will do everything in their power to make sure that that does not happen in the future and that activity projections, public-private mix projections and so on will be factored into the budget in the future. They did say that that is a political decision and one the Government has to make, not that they have to make; but they will be recommending to the Government, they said, that that is what should happen. The Public Accounts Committee felt that it was appropriate that the budget did reflect what the Government was planning to do with Health.
At the end of the day, the committee had to say that ACT Health still was unable to control expenditure within appropriate levels but that efforts were being made to overcome that. We were very happy about that, and that was the reason we felt that it was necessary to have a relook at the situation in late 1994, when we are absolutely confident ACT Health will be able to tell us what services actually cost, how they have budgeted from the bottom up, rather than the other way round, and where ACT Health is going.
MR MOORE (11.47): It seems to me that other members who have spoken to this report have made it very clear that this was not an attempt to play political games. It was a genuine attempt to ensure that in one of the areas of greatest concern as far as this and the previous Assembly are concerned, that is, the health budget, whatever can be done is being done. It therefore gives me pleasure, in supporting these recommendations and the report, to give credit where it is due. There are changes under way. It will only be over the next little while that we will be able to determine whether those changes are going to be enough.
MRS GRASSBY (11.49): Despite whatever criticism the Opposition and the Public Accounts Committee may direct towards ACT Health, there is no doubt that it has progressed substantially in financial accountability. All members of the previous Assembly will remember only too well that both the Chief Minister and the Minister for Health were unaware of the massive $17m budget blow-out in Health. Since that time, new measures of accountability have been introduced which guarantee that not only the Government but also the Opposition are fully informed.
ACT Health now releases quarterly reports with a detailed range of health-related statistics and is the only jurisdiction in Australia to release such detailed information. Since 1991 business rules have been used which direct how Health can be supplemented, reasons for supplementation including national wage cases, award increases, changes in public-private patient mix, and VMOs indexation. Activity increased by 1.42 per cent in 1991-92 and 5.35 per cent in 1992-93. Not only is ACT Health more accountable; it is also more efficient. It is, in effect, treating more people for less.
In many ways I agree with some of the speakers. Like Mr Kaine, I think accrual accounting is the way we should be going. It seems to be the only way we can find out exactly where money goes, instead of having lots of buckets of money with nobody knowing where it is. However, as we found out recently, until Treasury comes up with some rules on how this has to be done, it will be a while before we see that. It is very easy to say to 10 very ill people at the door of the
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