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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 2 Hansard (27 February) . . Page.. 323 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

Given that the same explanation was given in the same report in May 1995, seven months ago, how much longer will this Assembly and the Canberra community have to wait before this information will be provided? Will you apply the same standards to the supply of information now that you are in government? Will the Minister provide to this Assembly precise details of what the problem is right now or before the close of business today?

MRS CARNELL: I would be very happy to go back to the dark ages of the previous Government so far as the availability of information on ACT Health is concerned. That would mean going back to the old days of three-month averages, with the huge gaps in data that was available under the previous Government. As everyone in this Assembly would know, the approach that we have taken to information in Health is that it is an open book. The information provided includes the three-month approach which was available under the previous Government - I think it will be tabled later this week for that three-month period - and also the full monthly data that has been available from the time that we took government.

Mr Berry is speaking about Table 3. He forgets to talk about Table 1, which has the total run-down of total admissions. It shows that admissions are up by some 4.5 per cent. It goes right through all the areas - total separations, inpatient information, and so on. Table 3, as Mr Berry would know, is a table to do with available bed days for overnight and same day inpatients. The problem with this data is that there is a problem with the supporting MediLinc report. It means that while we are going through the process at Woden Valley Hospital - - -

Mr Berry: Have a go at Table 3 - a blank page.

MRS CARNELL: Table 3, yes, that is it.

Mr Berry: Table 3 is a blank page.

MR SPEAKER: Order! The question is being answered.

MRS CARNELL: The new approach to information technology at Woden Valley Hospital is such that, unlike with the previous Government, we will be able to get to a stage where information is actually reliable. That is the problem that the previous Government had.

Ms Follett: There is nothing very reliable about this. It is a blank page.

MRS CARNELL: That is right. It is a blank page, and it is about available bed days for overnight and same day inpatients. It is not even about the number of people we looked after, how many people are on the waiting list, and how many occupied bed days there were. All of that information is here, and it is all information that was not available under the previous Government. If those opposite would like us to go back to the bad old days of three-month figures, all averaged with no real knowledge of what was really happening at Woden Valley Hospital, so be it; but I think it would be a real step backwards. I think we should be looking at improving our documentation all the time.

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