Page 4175 - Week 13 - Thursday, 25 November 1993
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MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell was invited to something I went to over at the hospital a couple of weeks ago and she did not turn up. What was that? I cannot remember what it was.
Mrs Carnell: I was doing something else. It was the Ladies Auxiliary who asked me.
MR BERRY: That is right. I looked pretty good there. You would have enjoyed it.
It gives me a great deal of pleasure to say that the redevelopment project is expected to come in on budget and to come in on time. I am also very pleased to be able to talk about the involvement of the Arts Council. Those of you who have been out there in recent times will have noticed that significant progress has been made on what is described as the entry precinct. That will be opened, we had earlier thought, around Christmas time or that part of the year. The Arts Council has carried out a unique program of community consultation in the design of the artworks and features to create a people-oriented atmosphere in these buildings. The buildings are going to be there for a long time and they have to create an impact when you enter them. Some of the diverse community groups involved include an Aboriginal youth group, schools and aged people's hostels. This year all the major building works in the project will be completed and we will begin to see the new Woden Valley Hospital really taking shape. Already, I understand, some of those portable buildings have gone or are being dismantled. As the year progresses, the benefits of the work will become more obvious.
Another significant development that will come to fruition this financial year will be the start of the clinical school.
Mrs Carnell: You need doctors for a clinical school.
MR BERRY: We will have doctors and there will be a significant increase in the number of salaried doctors within the hospital system, which will lead to an improvement of services within that system and less difficulty with contracts such as we are experiencing now. They will be covered by awards of the commission and so on and will not be subject to the pressures which are being applied by the AMA in this case.
In March 1993 a memorandum of understanding was signed by the ACT Government and the University of Sydney to establish that clinical school. The appointment process, as I understand it, is proceeding and I look forward to the announcement of the associate dean in due course. I think I might have said in the past that I expect that appointment to be made in January. The clinical school will have its first intake of students, on my last advice, in March 1994. These will be final year students of the University of Sydney Medical School. Initially, 20 students will be placed. From 1994, 20 places a year will be allocated from the start of the three clinical training years, making a total of 60 students. Those figures do not include full-fee-paying students. The clinical school will be dynamic, innovative and impressive, and it will be affiliated with the whole of the public health system in the ACT, not focused only on one hospital.
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