Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 11 Hansard (24 September) . . Page.. 3308 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

This Government has achieved more to improve the Territory's health and community care services than any other. Our public hospitals treated more than 1,000 additional patients last year, our waiting lists for elective surgery are the lowest in almost three years, while we significantly increased resources to improve mental health and disability services in the 1995-96 budget. There is no doubt that public health services are under enormous strain in Australia as demand increases and the costs of health care spiral. In recent months, I have watched with concern the problems facing health systems in Victoria and New South Wales, where bed and funding shortages have stretched these services to breaking point. This Government will not go down that path.

I can announce today that we have increased resources for health and community care in the ACT to ensure that we retain the best possible system for the people of Canberra. In the next nine months this Government will complete the ACT hospitals redevelopment project, which will identify the Canberra Hospital as Australia's most modern and well-equipped regional teaching facility - a facility we can all be very proud of. A total of $4m will be spent on improvements to orthopaedics and other facilities, bringing the final cost of the redevelopment project to $172m. However, the hospital will also begin a major refurbishment program to bring the rehabilitation and aged care wards and our outpatient facilities up to the standard of other accommodation.

We have also acted to improve services for our renal dialysis clients by constructing a new integrated unit at Garran. This $920,000 facility will replace the ageing unit at Acton Peninsula, which was allowed literally to fall apart by the previous Government. It will feature 16 dialysis stations and four home training rooms, meaning a total of 20 couches. As well, a new 15-bed independent living unit is due to open in 1997 in Garran, which will enable rehabilitation clients to develop living skills away from the hospital environment. This Government will continue to reduce waiting times for the thousands of Canberrans who need elective surgery. Not content with delivering on our election promise to reduce waiting lists by 20 per cent, we have allocated a further $1.5m this year to target those patients who have been waiting inappropriately long periods of time for surgery. In addition, this Government has established the Territory's first hospital-in-the-home program at a total cost of more than $600,000 this year.

I can also announce today that the ACT will have a cardio-thoracic surgery unit up and running by June next year. This is the same service that was promised by the former Labor Government back in 1992 but was never delivered. This Government has kept its promise, and Canberrans will have 2.7 million more reasons to believe that it will happen under this administration. A total of $2.7m has been provided to fund start-up costs and capital infrastructure for the unit. The full-year cost of the unit will be higher, but this will be offset by the revenue generated from treating cross-border and private patients.

Today, I can announce that Canberra's first slow-stream convalescent ward will be established at Calvary Hospital, in line with a promise I made prior to the last election. The unit will replace the 20 nursing home beds that will be decommissioned in 1997 following the opening of Ginninderra Gardens nursing home in Page. Patients who need more time to recover from an acute illness or injury will now have a service meeting their specific needs away from an acute care environment. This Government recognises, too,

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . .