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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 7 Hansard (20 June) . . Page.. 1956 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

to the introduction of a program of financial management reform. This includes the establishment of a purchaser-provider model which in health and community care establishes the central office as the purchaser on behalf of the Government and the community; and the Health and Community Care Service as the main provider.

There have been those who have baulked at the notion of a purchaser-provider split, yet in reality it is a very simple concept. In every health system in the world, both public and private, there are purchasers and providers of services. These are logical functions and are performed in all service delivery systems. What we are aiming to do in the ACT is to formalise these quite separate roles, to remove uncertainty and to clarify accountabilities. This is an innovative arrangement which introduces into the ACT a new, more open and transparent way of planning and delivering services, and of accountability for the expenditure of funds. The use of purchasing contracts is important to all stakeholders - our clients, our patients, our customers, our suppliers, our staff, the ACT community in general and, I would have hoped, members of this Assembly. This is because, for the first time, they will clearly set out what stakeholders can expect to receive in return for the substantial public investment in health and community care. At the same time the purchaser, on behalf of the Government and the community, and the providers of those services are very clear about what outcomes and outputs they are to produce for the money invested. The purchasing arrangements represent a major shift in emphasis, from a focus on inputs to a focus on outputs and outcomes - on the actual benefits and gains to be made from the services provided.

Mr Speaker, this legislation does not affect the employment arrangements of staff. They will remain under the provisions of the Public Sector Management Act 1994. However, it does recognise their role as health professionals and that they are different to the Public Service heritage passed down to us from the Commonwealth. That Public Service heritage was designed around a clerical role for the vast bulk of Public Service staff, not around the 7-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day life and death roles of our health professionals.

Mr Berry: Come on!

MR SPEAKER: Order!

MRS CARNELL: Mr Berry does not think that is true. Well, it is true. I believe that more than anything our health and community care professionals want certainty and security and that, through the creation of the service and the board, they can increase that certainty. This is because the board will assume the role of overseeing management of the health and community care services, acting as a buffer for staff and allowing our health and community care professionals to get on with their day-to-day responsibility - something that they desperately want to do.

The central office of the department will have responsibility for policy development, planning, population health and the purchasing of services to meet the health and community care needs of the ACT community. It will not be responsible for, nor will it be involved in, the day-to-day delivery of hospital and community care services.

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