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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2025 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

The conclusion of the report is that that was not the case, so it is patently false. That is the first one, Mr Deputy Speaker.

Mr Berry: No, it was felt that problems with communication would have been improved by discussions.

Mr Stanhope: Rubbish! What an outrageous assumption!

MR MOORE: Mr Deputy Speaker, I listened to them in silence and I expect the same on such a serious issue.

MR DEPUTY SPEAKER: The point is accepted. There has been no interruption thus far.

MR MOORE: Delayed surgery was felt to have contributed to the patient's death. It was more than that. In the media, of course, Dr Jeans went on to say that he could not access a theatre and that is what delayed the surgery. It has been made very clear that the statements by Dr Jeans that he could not access a theatre because of lack of funding was simply not the case. He also deliberately pointed to me as minister and said that it was my fault. It is very clear from the report that that was not the case.

The accusation levelled by Dr Jeans that the patient died because he could not access a theatre when he wanted to, that the patient died because of my personal action or inaction as minister, was patently false. I reiterate that it was patently false. That is what his peers have judged, not what I have said. It is what his peers have judged, so I stand by that statement. I still wish that Dr Jeans would have apologised and retracted. Had he done so on Friday, I would not have brought anything into this chamber; it would have been unnecessary.

Mr Stanhope said that I somehow attempt to gag and attack Dr Jeans when he does these things. What I have sought to do, appropriately so, is to correct inaccurate and misleading statements. Dr Jeans does have methods for speaking out and he has used them. He certainly mentioned to me a number of times in a division of surgery meeting and other times with other surgeons that they were dissatisfied with the sterilisation equipment at the Canberra Hospital that came through Totalcare. They told me that they had opened surgery equipment and there were wet packs. I approached the head of the board of Totalcare and raised that issue. Only today, at lunchtime, I handed over a certificate of accreditation to Totalcare on having the highest standard in the world, ISO 9,000, on sterilisation equipment. In other words he raised an issue and I acted. The sterilisation system at Totalcare is now amongst the highest in Australia. My understanding is that only a couple of other places in Australia have this level of accreditation. He had a method of speaking out and I acted.

Another example is theatre utilisation. Dr Jeans has mentioned to me the issue of theatre utilisation. He also made a submission to the Health and Community Care Committee which you chair, Mr Deputy Speaker. What happened? We then went to find the best possible people to do the job. We could have just appointed Fred Bloggs to go and look at theatre utilisation, but we did not. Instead, we appointed Dr King, Dr Kerridge and Ms Janet Cohen. Who are they? They were the nominees of the college of surgeons to do this job.

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