Page 3655 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 20 October 1993
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Your approach here is the same as your approach to the hospital generally. You complain about the number of beds without looking at the number of people that use them or the time that they stay in them. That narrow-mindedness and narrow focus which we have become used to from your statements is an attempt to mislead the community that something is wrong. It is about - - -
Mrs Carnell: I just quoted your executive director.
MR BERRY: He is not my executive director. For the people of the ACT, a lot has happened since Burdekin came to see how we deal with mental illness, and I guess - - -
Mr Humphries: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Mr Berry has not made the slightest attempt to approach the question that has been asked by Mrs Carnell. She asked clearly and simply about bed numbers in psychiatric care. He has not even begun to mention that. Would you please bring him to the point?
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Humphries, that is a question of your judgment. Mr Berry has the floor and is answering the question. Mr Berry may proceed to answer the question.
MR BERRY: If you look at beds by themselves and pretend that the rest of these services are not there, then you might be able to claim that something is wrong; but you cannot claim that something is wrong when you look at the composite, and you are not doing that. Of course, the daily crisis service has been provided from our four principal health centres of Belconnen, Phillip, Tuggeranong and the city - - -
Mr Humphries: Not by you. That was our initiative.
MR BERRY: It has been provided. An after-hours crisis service has been operated from the Woden Valley Hospital since 1991 by us. Both services have been combined to provide a community based service which will assist the public by providing a well-trained, responsive team which can be accessed from a single contact number. The crisis team will work closely with community mental health teams and the hospital in order to ensure continuity of service for clients in consultation with consumers and carers. Concerns had been expressed at the difficulty in having a number of crisis contact numbers. The changes will thus improve services and reduce duplication.
What we have is a broad range of services which are provided in the community. They include the provision of beds within the hospital system. If those services were not provided, then some might argue that you would need to provide more beds; but the aim, of course, is to keep people out of hospitals - - -
Mr Humphries: You sometimes have to put them there.
MR BERRY: Indeed. The aim, of course, is to keep people out of hospitals when that is not relevant and - - -
Mrs Carnell: You do that because you do not have any beds.
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