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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 9 Hansard (5 September) . . Page.. 2878 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

The thinking behind that is not that we are interested in reducing the amount of money available to hospitals; it is that we are interested in having a more efficient approach. In other words, for continuing to spend the same amount of money we are asking people to deliver more services and better services and to deliver them efficiently.

With regard to the pay issue, I think it is worth remembering that our VMOs, despite the negotiations of about two years ago, are still amongst the highest paid in Australia. Our salaried specialists were aligned with New South Wales about two years ago as well, so that they are also amongst the highest paid specialists in Australia when their whole package is taken into account. We are going through negotiations at the moment with ASMOF on salary issues.

With regard to nursing, we have only just completed and signed with nurses an overwhelmingly agreed EBA. Our nurses, taking their whole salary package into account including superannuation and so forth, are the highest paid in Australia. What we have sought to do, Mr Rugendyke, is to make sure that we maintain the best possible health services for the money and we will continue to provide the best possible health service for the money.

Members may remember that I tabled in the Assembly my instructions to the health and community care board and that the number one priority was that we did not reduce patient care. The hospital, in trying to meet that, is benchmarking itself against other teaching hospitals across the country to determine the areas in which they can make cuts and cannot make cuts and the areas in which increases are needed or not needed.

That is not to say that we do not recognise that there are particular areas in the hospital that come under a great amount of pressure at given times. Over the last couple of months we have had times where the emergency section of the hospital and the intensive care unit have come under very significant pressure. I want to point out to you that at the very same time every single hospital in Canberra was under the same pressures. When we checked with New South Wales to see whether bypasses were appropriate for New South Wales, they were also under the same sort of pressure at that time.

We know that it happens each year at a particular time. It was managed; and it was managed, I must say with great thanks, by a contribution from nurses, particularly nurses in emergency and intensive care. Intensive care alone did half the double shifts that were served. We do appreciate the efforts that are put in by our hospital staff. It is only through those efforts that we have the sorts of accreditation results that we have with Canberra Hospital. It is amongst the best hospitals in Australia. On almost every measure, it has improved over the last few years.

What is happening is that we are getting better and better services for the money. We do not mind spending more money. We indicated in the budget that you were a part of debating in this Assembly that the expenditure on the hospital would increase in order to deliver better services for the people of the ACT, as is happening.

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

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