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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 3 Hansard (28 March) . . Page.. 787 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

Of the costs that have occurred in this financial year, how the $13m or possibly $14m is put together is: About $3.2m is for increased activity - the, so far, 1,400 extra patients. We have seen a reduction in the waiting list of 350. I cannot believe that this Assembly is planning to censure me for reducing the waiting list, for treating more patients. It seems like a remarkable thing to do; but, for all of that, it appears that that is what is going to happen. The cost of that has been about $3.2m.

Because we have not been able to make the fundamental changes in the way we do things at Woden, the costs are on top, obviously; but I was not willing to close beds, as previous Health Ministers have done. I suppose that I could have done that. It was what Mr Berry did. During the last Labor term, I think, over 200 hospital beds were closed - not just for a while, but permanently. It is a way to go, but it is a way that blows waiting lists. I think the waiting list blew from about 1,879 to 4,500, basically. If that is the sort of financial management that this Assembly perceives is good, if that is the way the Assembly believes that Health should be managed, so be it. You certainly do not want me, then, as Health Minister, because I refuse to go down the path of closing hospital beds and letting the waiting list blow out as our approach to Health. Again, none of the Health Ministers who blew waiting lists or blew budgets and closed hospital beds were censured; but I am going to be censured, supposedly, for treating more patients and bringing the waiting list down, and for the same sort of blow-out as happened in the past.

There are other areas of concern at Woden Valley Hospital. We have already spoken about the VMOs' costs. There was a significant cost in delaying the sale of Upper Jindalee, as you would see from your budget papers, from 31 December through to March. We did that, as all of those here would know, because there was a certain amount of pressure from this Assembly and, most importantly, so that we could properly look after the staff and make sure that they all had options. In fact, another significant cost to this budget is that approximately 16 of the staff have not chosen to take a redundancy option and have not easily been redeployed. I think they are working at Lower Jindalee. That was not in our budget calculations, but we will look after our staff. So it is there now.

We also have some problems in the disability services area, with about a $1m overrun because the disability services review is subject to significant community consultation at this stage. I would like to have implemented changes earlier; but it seems that those changes recommended by the review may or may not be appropriate, or some of them may not be appropriate. In recent days, just in the last two days, it appears that we do have an enterprise bargain with staff, at least in its infancy, based upon new rosters and, I hope, a much better approach to disability services. All of these things are things that have happened to every other Health Minister, and there is no doubt that the management and the systems in our Health Department need to change significantly. That has not happened yet; but, for that matter, it did not happen under other Health Ministers either. The new enterprise bargains, the new arrangements we have with unions, will go a long way, I believe, in achieving those quite fundamental changes in the way we operate; but to achieve those fundamental changes I will need the support of this Assembly - pregnant pause; I will need the support of this Assembly.

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