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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 14 Hansard (9 December) . . Page.. 5015 ..

MR CORBELL (continuing):

report that during the investigation he narrowed the focus of his investigation onto this neurosurgeon.

I am advised that this report was considered by the ACT Medical Board at its meeting held on 21 March 2003 whereupon the board resolved to take no further action. It should be noted that the neurosurgeon referred to in the report is no longer operating at the Canberra Hospital. This neurosurgeon has also submitted to me that he does not consider that comments made by him in response to the report have been adequately addressed by the commissioner in the final report. It should also be noted that I have confidence in the service being provided by the three neurosurgeons who are currently appointed at the Canberra Hospital. The government acknowledges that despite the inconclusive findings made by the Community and Health Services Complaints Commissioner there are issues identified in the report commissioned by the former Liberal government, and this government will take responsibility to deal with the matter now.

The Community and Health Services Complaints Commissioner's report outlines several individual patient cases but draws no specific conclusions regarding the standard of practice in the neurosurgery unit at the Canberra Hospital. However, it is now possible that more adverse outcomes may come to light as a consequence of the tabling of this report. It is therefore appropriate to take stock of the commissioner's findings through a review I am announcing today into clinical governance and a further review of the neurosurgical outcomes of the patients of the neurosurgeon investigated by the Community and Health Services Complaints Commissioner. This second review is intended to ensure that all patients of this neurosurgeon who were admitted to the Canberra Hospital in recent years have been provided with appropriate post-discharge care. These reviews will be conducted by ACT Health using external experts in case review and clinical governance.

The clinical governance review will be forward looking. This clinical governance review will be an opportunity to evaluate recent improvements and areas for further improvement. Both reviews will also consider any other actions that should be undertaken. The panel of experts conducting these reviews will be announced shortly.

The first recommendation in the report is that the Minister for Health supports the reporting provisions set out in the Health Professionals Bill. I support this recommendation. The reporting provisions are set out in the new bill, which will be introduced into the Assembly during this sitting. Recommendation 2 reads:

The management of The Canberra Hospital needs to ensure that the internal peer review systems in the Neurosurgical unit are adequate to ensure those engaged in it cannot claim not to be aware of their colleagues practice or competence.

There needs to be reporting systems within The Canberra Hospital to ensure that, if any health professional has concerns about the standard of practice or clinical competence of another health professional, their concerns can be reported and acted upon in a timely fashion. There needs to be routine collection of information that is sufficiently comprehensive to allow effective peer review of clinical standards.

Mr Speaker, this recommendation by the Community and Health Services Complaints Commissioner brought to the fore the need to improve clinical governance arrangements at the Canberra Hospital. In response to the issues raised in the report the Canberra

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