Page 1781 - Week 06 - Thursday, 19 May 1994
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Health's management practices, financial systems and controls, the budgetary process and cost reduction initiatives. Five reports, five years, Mr Berry, Mr Connolly and Ms Follett, all part of the Government, and what do they have to show for it? Very little. There has been a marked lack of enthusiasm to face up to the realities of health administration in the 1990s. To quote the latest Arthur Andersen report:The system costs remain high and financial management and budget performance have not significantly improved. The system costs and financial performance can be summarised as follows:
. Costs of ACT Health and Woden Valley Hospital in particular remain significantly above interstate benchmarks.
. ACT Health has overrun its allocated budget, outside Business Rules, for each of the past three years and is expected to do the same in the current year.
I repeat, "outside Business Rules". I would like Mr Berry to be here to hear this. Do you remember all those times that Mr Berry tried to lecture me on how he had stayed inside the business rules?
Before I go any further, I would like to comment on one aspect of Mr Connolly's approach. Suddenly the failure to reform our health system has become a community problem and, according to Mr Connolly, one that the Opposition should not talk about because it is not helpful. Mr Connolly, you cannot shove the blame onto the community or anybody else. The failure stops right at your Government's door because it dug itself into a hole. Now it expects Canberrans to throw down a rope and pull it out. Do not forget that for three years some of us have had to sit here and listen while every member of your Government, including you, walked into this Assembly day after day and proudly told us that the health system was a jewel in the crown of the Follett Government, to quote one of your speakers. Some jewel! Let me remind Mr Connolly of Arthur Andersen's view of the Follett Government's management of the last health budget. The Andersen report said:
The 1993-94 savings initiatives were:
. poorly developed, including several that were based on incorrect premises resulting in unachievable savings targets.
. did not include strategies for achieving savings targets.
. did not have the support of management or unions.
. did not account for all savings required to meet budget plans.
. were introduced three months into the financial year, ignoring significant staffing overruns already incurred at the time the budget was announced.
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