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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 2702 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

other residential facilities. That means that they pay a percentage of their pensions, usually, towards the rent; they pay a percentage of the money towards food and other things that the houses require. What the Government provides is staff to ensure that the people involved have proper care, Mr Speaker. These are not institutions. These facilities would not be regarded as residential facilities. There certainly is a balance here. The food money that comes to the houses is supposed to cover a number of other things, such as cleaning facilities and all of those sorts of things, as would be the case in any residential facility anywhere.

As I said yesterday, the August 1996 infection control policy does cover the issue of infection control. It also talks about inclusion and exclusion principles, infection control principles in the workplace, and also the management of laundry - all of those sorts of things, Mr Speaker. The provision of such things as gloves, detergent, disposable paper towels, plastic aprons for handling soiled linen and so on is also covered in our policy directions. Some houses have greater needs than others, Mr Speaker, and we try to assess a house that may need more than what is the standard. That would be based upon, I suppose, such things as the level of incontinence amongst the people who are there, their general state of health, and the levels of care required.

Ms Tucker would be aware that in our disability program things such as gloves, detergent and so on are supplied. If they need more than those supplies we have to start looking at the issue of infection control and so on. I do not think one house which might have four or five people with moderate disabilities needs the same sorts of things as three or four people with severe disabilities. You simply have to look at what each house requires and assess the need.

MS TUCKER: I have a supplementary question. I think we had better go through the policy together. You are referring to it as if it is actually effective and you talk about - - -

MR SPEAKER: Is this a supplementary question?

MS TUCKER: Yes, Mr Speaker. You did not answer my question. I want to know what exactly is the process, because it is unclear. It appears that it does not exist. The policy that I referred to yesterday on infection prevention was actually a revised policy. I would ask you to table the policy that it is a revision of. That may give a clearer picture of what the department's policy is at this point in assessing the needs of houses because, as you have stated quite correctly, they vary. There seems to be no clear process to distinguish what the needs are so that the people in the houses can determine what the payment procedure should be.

MRS CARNELL: I do not think that was a question. I think it was a statement.

Ms Tucker: I am asking you to table the policy to answer my question.

MRS CARNELL: I am very happy to table the current policy. The current policy is what we are operating on. That is not a problem.

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