Page 3301 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 12 October 1993
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Mrs Carnell: That is right.
MR BERRY: So why did you call for it if you know that it is already happening?
Mr Connolly: Anything for a headline, Mr Berry.
MR BERRY: Anything for a headline. Why mislead the community, as if to say that nothing is happening out there, as if there is no peer review? Why call for it? The hospital will be strengthened with the appointment of a professor in obstetrics and training registrar staff in 1994, consistent with our commitment to establish a clinical school in the ACT.
Mrs Carnell interjected about intervention rates within the public hospital system. It so happens that the Government supports the maternity services review. It is now out for consultation, as a result of this Government's support for it. It has long been known that the intervention rates in the ACT have been high when compared to other places, and, in my view, without a proper explanation, unacceptably so.
Mrs Carnell: Then, what are we talking about?
MR BERRY: Again, I will answer this question. We have put in place the committee that I referred to, and that happened on 12 March 1992. This problem has been around for a long time and it is not going to change overnight. We have also said that we will establish a clinical school here in the ACT, and that will have a great effect on the quality of care that women - - -
Mrs Carnell: On the number of caesareans?
MR BERRY: Here we go. I will tell you a little bit about what will happen. There is nothing that gingers up a specialist more than having a young, freshly trained student looking over his shoulder and saying, "We do not do it that way any more". Does that explain one of the reasons why things will improve under the clinical school? Of course. I get that from the professionals themselves. We have established the Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity and Mortality Committee to make sure that that peer review is strengthened within the hospital system. So do not call for it again. It is already happening. Of course, the clinical school will strengthen, even more so, our public hospital system.
Health System Costs
MR DE DOMENICO: Madam Speaker, my question without notice is also to Mr Berry. Noting his response to Mrs Carnell's question when he said "performing better in all respects", is the Minister aware of the report of the national costing study which reconfirms the fact stated in the 1992-93 supplementary budget information - that the cost of operating the ACT public health system is 30 per cent above the national average? Why is this the case, and what is the Minister doing about it? Why has the Minister not achieved any cost improvements over the last two years?
Mr Connolly: He is going to tell us to spend more.
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