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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 4 Hansard (21 April) . . Page.. 1068 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

receive better service because, Mr Berry, our priority one is patient care, client care, customer care. That is our priority. Sometimes in seeking to get that as priority one it is, unfortunately, necessary to make some changes.

In fact, both courses of action were suggested by a recent review of the critical care services at the Canberra Hospital. An external review of critical care beds was conducted on 1 and 2 December 1998 by nationally recognised expert intensivists from John Hunter Hospital and St George Hospital. The objectives of the review of intensive care were, firstly, to advise on the number, distribution and location of critical beds for the Canberra Hospital and the surrounding region, and to determine the distribution and location of specific critical care beds, that is, the critical care unit, the intensive care unit, and the high dependency unit; secondly, to undertake a review of the resourcing levels and functions of the medical staff, including intensivists, registrars and junior medical officers; and, thirdly, to assess the work practices of the intensive care unit, including quality outcomes, taking into account the preceding care at patient admission, continuity of care within the ICU and continuity of care between referring specialists, admission and discharge practices.

Unfortunately, Mr Berry, the review did not fully comply with the terms of reference that were set out for it. Because of that, it has not been accepted by either the reference group overseeing the project or Mr Rayment. Acceptance of the report now would lead to industrial action due to the terms of reference not being strictly followed. The new director of the intensive care unit, when appointed, can choose to work further with the ideas outlined in the report or to mould the service in the ways he or she sees best fit.

The need for managerial and administrative practice change in these two areas has been raised over a significant period of time. As the Canberra Hospital is undergoing a number of changes at this point in time, it is appropriate that these changes be made now. A continuing problem for the intensive care unit is the availability of appropriately trained intensive care unit nursing staff. As you know, we have raised this issue a number of times.

To attempt to address this problem, ICU nurse training short courses were conducted during 1998. Three courses were run in 1998 and this program has been extended into 1999. A postgraduate diploma in acute care nursing was established in 1997 in partnership with the University of Canberra. Nursing staff have attended this course since it commenced. Five funded places have been provided for staff for the course commencing in April. Over the last two years the hospital has been associated with five training programs in relation to intensive care nursing. Funding has been provided for this course, which is also due to commence in April.

Mr Berry, remembering that our priority one is patient care, client care, customer care - that is our priority one - you can see that a great deal of action is going on to improve this service.

MR SPEAKER: Do you have a supplementary question, Mr Berry?

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