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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 6 Hansard (23 May) . . Page.. 1685 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

on 23 April clearly said that Woden Valley Hospital would treat 3,080 extra patients this financial year. There is not long to go before the end of the financial year. We have treated an extra 1,000 since the Liberals came to office. According to the old maths, we have a couple of thousand to go in a month. Which of these statements is true?

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, the projected figure for the ACT public hospital system to the end of June 1996 is 56,805 separations. That is 2.3 per cent above the anticipated 55,000 people - which, as you can see, is very close to 2,000, so we are probably somewhere in the middle. This is mostly due to an increase in medical separations at Woden Valley Hospital. The total separations for Woden Valley Hospital to the end of February 1996 exceeded the target by some 5.5 per cent. This figure dropped to 2.68 per cent in March. Factors contributing to this decline included the absence of a number of anaesthetists attending their annual conference and also recent industrial disputation.

I join those opposite in having a laugh about the anaesthetists conference, but I am sure that everybody in this Assembly would be interested to know that the same thing occurred in just about every other public hospital in Australia and occurred under the previous Government as well. Before Mr Berry runs off and says, "Shock, horror! Anaesthetists conference affects throughput at Woden Valley Hospital in March", he should actually look back and see that it has happened previously. I was very upset when I heard this and suggested to many and various people that I did not think it was appropriate; but it appears that it is not a tremendously good idea to run operating theatres without anaesthetists, so we decided that we would not do that, Mr Speaker.

MR BERRY: I ask a supplementary question. The Estimates Committee received advice in April that the number was going to be 7 per cent above the anticipated level. That advice was wrong. It is now about 31/2 per cent.

Mrs Carnell: No, about 5.5 per cent.

MR BERRY: Okay, about 5.5; but the statement in the Canberra Times is wrong, too.

Mrs Carnell: Is that a supplementary question?

MR BERRY: One of them has to be wrong. The 7 per cent is wrong; we know that. Is the Canberra Times statement about 1,000 extra patients wrong, too? The 3,000 is wrong and the 1,000 is wrong. They are both wrong.

MR SPEAKER: Mr Berry, I am wondering whether you can put this on the notice paper.

MRS CARNELL: Mr Speaker, I am very happy to tell Mr Berry which one is right. The most up-to-date information as of today, or as close to today as it is possible to get, is that the projected figure for ACT public hospitals to the end of June 1996 is 56,805 separations. That is 2.3 per cent above the anticipated figure of 55,000. The total separations for Woden Valley Hospital to the end of February 1996 exceeded the target by 5.5 per cent.

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