Page 3417 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 13 October 1993
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That means that the expectation over future years is that there will be fewer beds to provide either an equal amount of services by way of admissions or more. At the same time the number of beds within the hospital system has to be looked at against the background of traditionally quiet periods, like Christmas and other holiday periods.
Mrs Carnell: But you close them then.
MR BERRY: That is right. We do close them then. That is what I say; you have to look at the number of beds you use against that background. For example, you have to keep a steady average across the whole year to provide a given range of admissions. That is what Health plans to do. As part of the hospital redevelopment, the new renal unit will open on level 8 of building 1.
Mrs Carnell: What has that to do with it?
MR BERRY: It all has to do with it. Again, you do not want to get the big picture; you want just to focus on the minutiae. I will give you the big picture and you will not be able to go out there and mislead anybody.
As part of the hospital redevelopment, the new renal unit will open on level 8 of building 1. The 15 renal beds currently on 10A will move to the new unit, leaving 13 short-stay beds on 10A. This is not a viable number of beds on which to run a staff and to staff a ward, so a viability question comes into play. At the same time high dependency beds will be opened in the intensive care unit, which will provide more appropriate care for some of the post-operative patients who would normally have gone to the beds in 10A. Other short-stay patients will be accommodated in the other surgical wards in the hospital. Staff on 10A will be placed into existing vacant positions. With further redevelopment, additional day surgery beds will be opened in the D and T building, as you would recognise. The reduction of those beds will be offset by the continuing reduction in average length of stay, as I explained earlier. We are doing much better in Health, which means that fewer beds are required to provide the existing level of services. This is all about becoming more efficient, and we are good at that.
MRS CARNELL: I have a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. How many beds are actually going to be lost in this whole approach? How many fewer beds will we get when the 13 short-stay beds are closed?
MR BERRY: That is not the point. The point is: How many admissions will there be? We are funded for the same number of admissions as last year, and that is the key.
Mrs Carnell: Nine fewer beds.
MR BERRY: It does not matter.
North Duffy-Holder Development
MR LAMONT: My question is directed to the Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning. Can the Minister comment on a report in yesterday's Canberra Times from an undisclosed source that a deal has been done between his department and the ANU to allow the North Duffy-Holder residential development to proceed?
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