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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 4 Hansard (17 April) . . Page.. 974 ..

MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell asks me to explain it. The community is asking us: Why is not Mrs Carnell managing her hospitals properly? That is the big question here, and that is what this motion goes to. It is a motion which sets out to restore confidence in the community and our hospital system - a confidence which has fallen dramatically over the recent publication of the treatment of animals within our hospital system and the way that some people in the medical profession treat our hospital system.

Last evening I viewed the sad story of a concerned person in the community because of the treatment which his mother had or had not received in the context of these animals being treated in the hospital system. That person and many others are concerned about the way that Mrs Carnell is managing her hospital system. We know that morale within the hospital system is at an all-time low, because the credibility of the hospital is being damaged and the actions of Mrs Carnell have not been sufficient in any way to restore the credibility of the hospital system.

So far we have seen an inquiry put in place at an administrative level. There is an inquiry by the Clinical Privileges Committee, and one by the Medical Board. None of those can be described as independent inquiries; not one of them can be described as an independent inquiry. The only way that an independent inquiry can be conducted into the hospital system is to have it done by somebody that is independent from it. None of the people involved in those inquiries can be regarded as being independent.

Mrs Carnell: Are you suggesting that the fraud investigation unit is not independent?

Mr De Domenico: What about the police?

MR SPEAKER: Order! Mr Berry has the floor.

MR BERRY: You would never think so, Mr Speaker. Thank you for your defence.

This is an inquiry which sets out to look at the way that doctors treat our hospital system. The first point, of course, is about the protocols in place at Woden Valley Hospital in relation to the examination and treatment of animals. Of course Mrs Carnell will ridicule the motion - so she ought to - being, as she is, so defensive about this issue and being, as she is, so guilty of mismanagement of our hospital system, as already proven in this Assembly.

Mrs Carnell: Wayne, you are a joke.

MR BERRY: Mrs Carnell is the joke in this Territory when it comes to the treatment of patients within our hospital system.

Mrs Carnell: The patients are treated very well in our hospital system - extremely well.

MR BERRY: That was not what somebody on the television was saying last night. They were most unhappy about it. Nurses and professional staff within the hospital system are deeply concerned about the issue as well.

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