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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 6 Hansard (23 May) . . Page.. 1572 ..

MR SPEAKER: It is up to Mr Moore to answer the question as he sees fit. I remind you, Mr Corbell, that Mr Moore was provoked by constant interjections from Mr Berry, and I will not tolerate them. I am sure Mr Moore is getting around to answering the question.

MR MOORE: Mr Speaker, I am certainly answering the question. While Mr Berry was health minister, there was a constant growth in the number of people on the waiting list and the amount of time they were on the waiting list. When I became minister, there was an immediate blow-out because we had a dispute with the doctors. Since that time there has been a constant reduction in the number of people on the waiting list.

An Assembly committee inquired into this issue and made recommendations about what we should do. We are implementing all those recommendations-very good recommendations they were, too-plus we are going further. Only recently we indicated that we had called for tenders to provide our services-

Mr Berry: Privatise.

MR MOORE: No, not just private. It was not privatised. We have asked the Canberra Hospital and the Calvary Hospital to tender for money and to show us what they can do. But if they cannot do it, we are also interested in other hospitals, because we are interested in dealing with the problem Mr Corbell is talking about. On the one hand, we have constant calls from Mr Stanhope saying, "Don't do any privatising. Don't do that. Don't do this. Don't do the other. Don't, don't, don't." It is always negative. On the other hand, he is saying, "But you have not dealt with it." As soon as we start to take a new approach to dealing with a long-term problem, I am criticised.

Mr Corbell, we have a serious problem in our category 2 patients, which you have identified. We are doing a range of things to deal with that. First, we are working under the recommendations of the Assembly committee. Secondly, we have put the list money to tender and said, "Who can do more to help me?" Tenders are being considered at the moment. Of course, that is at arm's length from me. We will see how much of the money can be used. In that way we will explore the capacity of the hospitals in the ACT, both private and public, to deal with waiting lists. A series of other actions are also taking place at the moment to try to deal with the lists.

Category 2 patients are our most serious concern. There are people in category 3 who are also waiting longer than necessary, although the concern there is not as great as it is in category 2. There is also a concern, Mr Corbell, that some patients are inappropriately categorised as category 2. The professor of surgery is looking to see who is inappropriately categorised in category 2 to ensure that people are not missing out or waiting longer for treatment because somebody else has jumped the list. That is very important. That may change the nature of the lists as well.

MR CORBELL: I ask a supplementary question. The same report from the department says that the figure is higher than the annual target of 30 per cent. Can the minister say whether the government now regards the fact that 30 per cent of patients wait longer than clinically desirable is an acceptable target for service delivery?

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