Page 3003 - Week 10 - Thursday, 15 September 1994
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DISTINGUISHED VISITORS
MADAM SPEAKER: I inform members of the presence in the gallery today of a delegation from the Parliament of the United Kingdom led by the Rt Hon. Sir Peter Emery, MP. On behalf of all members, I bid you a warm welcome.
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Woden Valley Hospital - Emergency Department
MRS CARNELL: My question is directed to the Minister for Health because he has felt very left out this week. I refer the Minister to the case of a 20-month-old girl who was brought into the Emergency Department at Woden Valley Hospital by her mother three days after the Minister promised that staff shortages had been fixed and more beds had been opened. The mother and daughter arrived at 4.30 pm on Monday. The child, suffering from severe gastroenteritis, was not seen until 9.30 pm - five hours later. The mother, by the way, understood the enormous pressure facing A and E staff and understood that she had to wait. At midnight the child had still not been admitted, because of the shortage of beds. At that stage the mother asked whether her daughter could lie down in a cot, but staff could not find a mattress to actually fit a cot. Finally, nurses found a mattress and blankets and placed them on the floor in one of the examination cubicles. The mother nursed the child until 3.00 am, when the girl finally fell asleep on the mattress on the floor. The child was not seen again until mid-morning, when a drip was inserted to compensate for dehydration. This happened at 10.30 am - 18 hours after she was first brought into casualty. Finally, she got a bed just before lunchtime. I ask the Minister: Why does a seriously ill child have to sleep on a mattress on the floor of Canberra's major hospital? Is a lack of beds part of your famous phrase "Under Labor health goes from strength to strength."?
MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, I note the unrestrained glee in Mrs Carnell's question. I think it is regrettable that distressed parents who write letters alleging matters are immediately seized upon by Mrs Carnell, for partisan political advantage. That is the sort of tactic that we have come to expect from Mrs Carnell. If I have seen this letter, which I believe I have, I have actually spoken to this woman in the hospital. The story has got a little worse in the telling.
Mrs Carnell: No, you have not seen this one.
MR CONNOLLY: I think this is the same one, but in any event the position is simple, Madam Speaker. This is an inappropriate place to air these individual sets of allegations. We have established a Health Complaints Commissioner to look at these matters. These allegations are quite serious. If it is the case that I believe it is, the advice that
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