Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Tuesday, 2 March 2004) . . Page.. 487 ..

Press Ganey backs up the anecdotal evidence that we all hear. Just yesterday a constituent told me how his son had injured his hand at school. After presenting at Canberra hospital he was told that he would have to wait six hours. His parents arrived and took him home. After making a few phone calls they were able to have him seen quite quickly at John James hospital. More recently we have heard tales about patients being parked in corridors on trolleys. We have been told that Canberra hospital has been by-passed several times this year. I am not sure of the exact number of times and we are not able to establish those figures. The minister might be able to enlighten us.

The Nurses Federation claimed that ambulances were being used as beds at the hospital. The minister said that that was not true, but the CEO was much more coy when questioned about that possibility. It is not just the Productivity Commission telling us that there are problems: consumers, patients and staff are also telling us that there are problems. Recently the Australian Nurses Federation spoke about its concerns. In a less formal way, workers at the hospital vented their spleen on www.impactednurse.com, the website of nurses who have been affected. I read from an article in the “Month in Review” section, which appears to me to be a pretend news story. The article states:

Reuters, Monday: “A major Australian emergency department has reduced its size to 4 beds in a brave new initiative to meet the increasing health needs of the community”, a government spokesperson, Mr Soggybottom, announced today.

“By synergistically converted our services and pro-actively retrograding their number of beds to 4…we aim to set a new gold standard in healthcare. A model that will be held up as proof positive of our commitment to caring for our community well into the new millennium, Mr Soggybottom said.

Of course, that is a joke; it is a complete fabrication. However, when we read the remainder of that article we find that it is a little more real than people would care to believe. The problem that is being experienced appears to involve access to the wards. The article, which addresses the bed block issue in New South Wales, states:

Thirty to forty per cent of adults admitted to principal referral or major metropolitan hospitals experience unacceptable delays getting to destination wards. These delays are likely to be associated with poorer clinical outcomes and increased length of stay after the ED phase of care, and impair the ability of EDs to deliver high standard emergency care.

The press release that was issued yesterday by Mr Corbell states:

Labor is focused on quality—quality outcomes for the people of Canberra.

Mr Corbell then states:

Our health system should be judged by outcomes, not just how much it costs.

If we take into account that statement and what is happening in our hospital system we see clearly that Labor is not concerned with outcomes and it is not focused on quality care, as that is not what is being delivered. The unacceptable waiting times in the hospital emergency department is affecting patients and, therefore, outcomes. The stories

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .