Page 2548 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 23 August 1994
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One other matter that I would like to talk about is the time that the committee had to deal with these matters. We had a compressed timeframe. I have some sympathy for the chair of this committee, because there was a lot of work that had to be done in a short timeframe. It also meant that there were demands on people in the committee if they were to challenge some of the proposals which were put forward by the Liberals and others. In relation to one of those, they talked about health savings. They went on to talk about the Andersen report and duly recommended:
. where expenditure reductions are foreshadowed, that the Minister for Health provide the Committee with full details of where and how the reductions will be achieved.
That is a very nice recommendation, and I hope that the Minister can conform to it; but I think that, if it involves industrial relations, the committee will have to understand, as was pointed out to them in the past, that quite often that is not possible because there are other people who have to be considered in the process, for instance, the relevant unions you have to deal with, in the development of savings options as part of the various wages systems with which the Government has to work.
I note the recommendation about the adolescent ward. I think that will be a good idea when the Government can fit it into its program. It is often very easy to grab at these sorts of recommendations and say, "Yes, that sounds like a good idea because people are calling for it"; but it really has to be considered against the background of the big picture, not only in health but also in every other area within this enterprise which we have to manage between us all. I also note the continuing misunderstanding or lack of understanding of, or refusal to understand, the issue of waiting lists. Last year the Estimates Committee linked demographic changes to waiting lists. You cannot do that. I think it has been explained before. I tried to explain it in the Estimates Committee. It does not seem that there is a complete understanding, or a willingness to understand fully, the waiting lists issue. It is not only about demographics; it is about the number of medical practitioners who place people on waiting lists. It also involves the effects of industrial action like the strike by the local VMOs that we unfortunately experienced. It also involves changes to administrative practices, which have not been clearly identified. That is a self-criticism, I suppose, in that one was not able to achieve the inclusion of that sort of recognition of the facts. Nevertheless, I think it is something that needs to be said.
There was one other matter which involved turning up information at the last moment. A rash of figures was supplied in relation to obstetric beds. As I recall, we had overnight to consider them before they were written into the report. Quite frankly, it was an impossible task. I cannot comment on the figures at this point. It would be silly for me to try to do so. That will be something the Minister will deal with in due course. But, with that mass of figures being dumped on the table, it is very difficult for any member of the committee to do that. I suspect that it was probably left until the last moment for good reason.
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