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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 12 Hansard (18 November) . . Page.. 4193 ..

MRS CROSS (continuing):

desired length of time and far longer than in other jurisdictions. This, of course, causes great stress for people who are already in a delicate state of health.

Minister, can you provide for the Assembly the waiting times for angiograms to be done by the imaging section of the Canberra Hospital over the last six months?

MR CORBELL: I am happy to take the question on notice and provide the information to Mrs Cross.

MRS CROSS: Minister, are patients of the Canberra Hospital placed on the surgery waiting lists before they have their angiograms, or do they often wait eight weeks for the angiogram before they are designated category 1 patients, which means that, in effect, they are waiting three months instead of one month for their surgery?

MR CORBELL: I am happy to get the information for Mrs Cross and provide it to her in the Assembly.

Canberra Hospital-patient satisfaction survey

MRS BURKE: My question is to the Minister for Health, Mr Corbell. Page 25 of the ACT Health annual report notes that patient satisfaction at the Canberra Hospital has dropped. Over two years the emergency department has dropped nearly 10 points from 86.6 in 2000-01 to 76.8 in 2002-03. More dramatically, in in-patient services the rating has dropped from 85.4 in 2001-02 to 77.8 in 2002-03. Minister, was this a Press-Ganey survey and, if so, did it benchmark the Canberra Hospital against peer group hospitals as well as hospitals overall? If this benchmarking comparison was done, how did the Canberra Hospital rate and what was its percentile rating in that peer group?

MR CORBELL: I am not aware if there was any peer review done or peer rating against equivalent hospitals. But I am happy to inquire and find out for the member.

It is worth, though, putting this particular survey in some context. The context is that the survey was provided to approximately 800 patients who were discharged from the hospital. Of the 800 who received the survey, just over 180 or so responded. So it is important to put this in the context of the relatively small sample. In addition, I would challenge anyone to suggest that a 75 per cent approval rating, or three-quarters of everyone who returned the survey, is not a strong result for our public hospital. Given the relatively small survey numbers, it is important that we treat those figures with some caution. Nevertheless, a decline is a decline, and for that reason I am further investigating the issue to understand what particular issues people were raising as a cause for concern. But I still believe-and I think members in this place would believe also-that an approval rating of 75 per cent or higher is a significant level of approval. I am sure it is something Mr Smyth would be hoping for right now!

MRS BURKE: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. Will the minister table the full Press-Ganey survey in the Assembly?

MR CORBELL: I will take the question on notice.

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