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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 10 Hansard (29 August) . . Page.. 3606 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

I have had discussions not only with the HSUA which represents these people but also with the hospital to see whether we can find a better working condition for them. The hospital has indicated to me that they are prepared to negotiate AWAs with the workers in this case in order to see whether they can get an outcome that means we can compete effectively with other places. I would not expect that to be for a 37 per cent increase.

I have had ongoing discussions with the HSUA and will continue to have those discussions. I have asked the hospital and the department to prepare a series of issues for me to take to cabinet, which I intend to do this Monday, in order to try to see whether we can find a resolution to these problems.

In the interim the hospital has acted very responsibly and has arranged for some patients to have their imaging services done privately, with the hospital paying for it. This is a temporary measure, but a sensible one, in order to ensure there is the least impact possible on patients, but it is an ongoing problem.

MR STANHOPE: I thank the minister for the answer. In relation to the range of strategies that the minister and the hospital may be considering in order to redress this problem-and I take the point that he makes; that each of the states seem to be competing more and more against each other for a limited supply of nurses, and in this case imaging technicians-has the government considered a range of other strategies designed to attract and maintain imaging specialists in Canberra and at the Canberra Hospital? Has it considered at any stage issues around attracting more people into these professions?

MR MOORE: Thank you for that supplementary question. Yes, I touched on a couple of those strategies. The hospital has advertised internationally and has been successful. We are looking at the working conditions and pay. We have been having discussions with the HSUA. I have had a meeting with people who are working there. They came to see me with the HSUA. In the interim we have ensured that patients will be able to have their services provided. By the way, they were patients who will be bulk billed, so it is not an extra cost to the patient.

Efforts for the recruitment of radiographers, stenographers and so forth interstate have increased. I am informed that the Canberra Hospital hopes to be close to full establishment by the end of this year. So there are a series of actions being taken at the moment to do that recruiting in order to meet what is a problem, and we have some hope.

There was a national drive by, I think, the college of radiologists. I recall seeing in the media last week a statement where they are suggesting that there are significant numbers of patients who are not getting timely treatment because of a shortage of radiologists as well as specialist doctors involved in this area. There is an irony in this because the college of radiologists in the past has restricted the number of people coming into that profession. They also have the support of the AMA. I think there is a broad recognition now in the community that this sort of restriction is creating more problems than it is solving and that we need to work beyond that. We are trying to work in a cooperative way, both on an ACT and a national basis, to improve that condition.

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