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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 9 Hansard (28 August) . . Page.. 3362 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

six state capitals will be eligible for up to $30,000 to help them establish a practice here, as long as they agree to stay for three years.

For the past four to five years, the Commonwealth has simply said no to this issue. It has simply said, "We don't care about the ACT; you are inner metropolitan."I am pleased to say that we have broken that deadlock with a very significant step forward today. It also means that the ACT will get more GP trainees who will be able, after their training, to practise as GPs in the ACT.

In a situation in which the ACT has 60 GPs per 100,000 head of population and the national average is over 80 per 100,000, we are finally getting some movement forward on this very important issue. It is thanks to the negotiations that this government has undertaken that we have achieved those results.

The Commonwealth has also agreed to designate the ACT as a district of work force shortage for GP services. That will make it easier for GPs to recruit doctors to fill vacancies in their practices by allowing them to recruit doctors from overseas. That is also something that would not have been achieved except for the very tough negotiating position taken by the ACT.

The Commonwealth has also given a commitment to fund an after-hours access model for GP services. Members should be aware that in the past year we have seen an increase of 15 per cent in category 4 and category 5 presentations at our hospital and emergency departments. That is because people cannot see a GP, especially after hours and especially on a weekend. This government has obtained a commitment from the Commonwealth government to fund a new after-hours GP model which will be developed in cooperation by the Commonwealth and ACT governments and the ACT Division of General Practice.

I would like to address specifically the issue of the 50 transitional aged care beds. The Commonwealth has agreed to make available funding for 50 approved, but not yet operational, nursing home beds to provide transitional care beds for people who are waiting in hospitals for a nursing home place to become available. This means that nursing home-type patients who are currently in an acute care bed because they cannot get into a nursing home will be able to go into a transitional care bed, freeing up those acute care beds for the medical and surgical patients who need them. That is a very significant step forward, again thanks to the negotiating position adopted by this government.

Finally, the Commonwealth has agreed to fund the new sub and non-acute facility through its pathways home program. It is worth $5.5 million. Members would be aware that this was funded by the ACT government in the last budget. That will free up $5.5 million for service delivery in another part of the health system.

This is a real win for the ACT-more GPs, more after-hours services, more beds in our hospitals for surgical and medical patients and more nursing home-type beds-and all we have from the opposition is whinge, whinge, whinge and pick, pick, pick. Either it is a good result or it is not. It is a good result, thanks to the negotiating position of this government.

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