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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 7 Hansard (19 June) . . Page.. 2102 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

last year the increased throughput was around 7 per cent in costs for separations to the Canberra Hospital.

I wish to take my second 10 minutes, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: Proceed.

MR STANHOPE: The Canberra Hospital advised us that they performed at least an additional 2,000 procedures during the last year. They told us at estimates that the funding they were provided with in this budget for additional separations would result in the hospital being able to perform an additional 800 separations-at least 1,000 separations fewer than was provided for in the past year.

The government is anticipating a fall-off in demand for separations, procedures or patient care at the Canberra Hospital of over 50 per cent. We all know what will happen. It increased by 7 per cent last year. Why would the government anticipate that it was going to fall by 50 per cent in the coming year? And yet that is all the funding that has been provided.

We know it is illusory; we know the hospital simply will not manage on the funding that has been provided. The hospital has been asked to control demand to the point where it is expected to reduce its number of separations by over 1,000. I would be interested to know whether or not that requirement has been made of the Canberra Hospital. Has Ted Rayment been told to control demand to the point where he has been funded to perform-over 1,000 separations less than in the last year? If he has been instructed, by whom? If he has not been instructed to reduce throughput, if he has not been instructed to reduce the number of separations by more than half, how is he going to do them? Who is going to pay him? Where is the money coming from?

He has been provided with about 1 per cent of funds additional to what he will end up with at the end of the year as having been provided to the Canberra Hospital. He has told us that he can anticipate the same level of growth in the number of separations over this year as there were last year. That is a 7 per cent increase. And yet, as I said, he has got less than 50 per cent of the funds for elective surgery that he had last year.

Another issue that I regret we were not able to flesh out at estimates in relation to the Canberra Hospital's additional funding was the $3 million of additional insurance premium for the Canberra Hospital. It remains a matter of grave concern to me that the Canberra Hospital, in order, one assumes, to cover anticipated suits or anticipated legal action-I do not know whether for events that have occurred or that it anticipates will occur-was allocated an additional $3 million for its liability insurance premiums.

That is an awfully cheap insurance policy. Yet there was a real reluctance on the part of the minister or officials at estimates to explain why the Canberra Hospital is paying an additional-not $3 million of extra insurance premiums-$3 million over and above what it currently pays for its liability insurance. What a big jump in insurance premiums! And the question has to be asked: why? It is an issue that needs to be resolved; it is an issue that needs closer examination and analysis. What is going on at the Canberra Hospital that requires the payment of an additional $3 million in insurance?

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