Page 3648 - Week 12 - Thursday, 13 October 1994
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MR CONNOLLY: Madam Speaker, that seems to be a question for a clinician, and I am not a clinician. I would presume that a lot of this would depend upon the level of urgency the treating doctor referred to.
Mr Humphries: I could answer that question, Terry.
MR CONNOLLY: Yes, and you would say that everybody should go straight to hospital - no waiting lists; no taxes; we give away the petrol; 2,000 beds at the hospital; and a hospital in every electorate. It is the Liberal Party nonsense. This is pure stuntism from the Opposition. I cannot answer the question because I am not a clinician. I do not know the details of the matter. Opposition members have known in the past that, when they do have legitimate constituency issues that they want raised, if they raise them with my office we will try to facilitate an answer. They also know that if they want a cheap political stunt they can come into this house and ask these silly sorts of questions. Needless to say, the Opposition have decided that they want silly political stunts.
MR STEFANIAK: I ask a supplementary question, Madam Speaker. Given that this patient and her doctor had been told that waits of up to 10 weeks for an appointment are not unusual and that there could be as many as 300 people on the waiting list, will the Minister undertake to inform the Assembly as to exactly how many people are waiting and the average waiting period? That is something you can do.
MR CONNOLLY: If you want to give me the details of this matter, I will have it looked at. If you want me to come back and report on the pain management program, I will do that too. As I think we reported in our response in relation to the hospice, we have had some difficulties in recruiting certain people in this pain management area. These are people who have been suffering with pain for a very long time. These are not the urgent life-threatening situations. They are people with very legitimate concerns; I will certainly say that. I read with great concern on the front page of the Melbourne Age recently a reference to one of the major Melbourne metropolitan hospitals where, as a result of casemix funding, the chronic pain management clinic was shutting - totally, absolutely, finally, kaput. "Casemix", says Mrs Carnell; wave the magic wand of casemix and we will save $30m. I would have to say to your constituent that I would not be hopeful if casemix came in, as Mrs Carnell seems to want it to come in - whatever she means when she says "casemix and slash $30m". If Mr Stefaniak wants me, as a constituency matter, to look at this case, I will do that; but, again, if he wants to make cheap political points in the Assembly, I guess that he can do that too.
MADAM SPEAKER: Mr Stefaniak, I would ask you to check standing order 117(c) in relation to that question.
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