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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 12 Hansard (13 November) . . Page.. 4156 ..

MRS CARNELL (continuing):

The current level of 0.8 private beds per 1000 population is below the national average of 1.3 private beds per 1000 population. The addition of 100 beds at the NCPH would bring the ACT close to the national average -

still under the national average, but close to the national average -

for private bed provision.

The interesting thing about those figures and those statements there is that they do not actually take into account the region. This report also states:

In 1995-96, 20 per cent of patients treated at TCH, which is the only tertiary referral hospital in the region, had home addresses outside the ACT.

The report goes on to say that there are no private hospital beds in the region. There are no private hospital beds in the region other than the ones in the ACT and we already have a level of private hospital beds significantly under the national average. Even with the new private hospital, we would not quite make the national average inside the ACT; but we are actually servicing an area nearly double the size of Canberra that you could expect at least an extra 20 per cent of patients from. From the small amount that I have read, it would appear that the figures that have been put in here, although right in themselves, have not taken on board the actual part of New South Wales that we service.

It is also interesting to note that the approach that John James has taken in this particular circumstance is not unique. In fact, I would like to read something from the Australian Surgeon of spring 1997. It is from the "Around the States" part of the magazine and the article is headed "Co-location angers surgeons". The article reads:

The State Committee of the Australian Association of Surgeons recently went public in its opposition to co-location of a private hospital on the campus of the Royal Hobart Hospital or any other public hospital in Tasmania.

Here we have a magazine distributed around Australia making negative comments about co-location of private hospitals. What is interesting is that when you go into this article it tells us why it is not liked. The article makes a few points about reducing private health insurance. Then it says:

It is against this background of an ever decreasing percentage of privately insured patients that we see the suggestion mounted by the Government that a significant proportion of the Royal Hobart Hospital should be turned over to a private wing to be managed in some shared capacity -

as a private hospital -

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