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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Tuesday, 22 June 2004) . . Page.. 2329 ..

EDs, waiting for the call to come in? I think we need to maintain some perspective about this issue, important though it is.

Mr Speaker, over the 11 months to 31 May 2004 our EDs were in load-sharing mode for a total time of about five days, with an average bypass time of about four hours at any one time; that is, five days out of 336 days or about 1.5 per cent of the time. That, Mr Speaker, is not a system in crisis. Does Mr Smyth really believe that we should fund our EDs so that they never have to go on bypass just because for 1.5 per cent of the time they are too busy to meet the needs of everyone who turns up for care? I repeat: load sharing does not mean that people with life-threatening conditions are turned away or receive less timely or effective care.

It’s worth making the point, Mr Speaker, that even when a hospital is on bypass, if you are category 1 you are admitted and you are treated at that hospital on bypass. That’s something that Mr Smyth never tells the media. Too many people, though, still wait too long in emergency departments before getting access to a bed in a ward.

Over the 1990s it became increasingly difficult to open additional beds due to a reduction in the availability of qualified staff. This has been mitigated to a degree by an increase in same-day activity, which has helped reduce the demand for hospital beds. Many things that used to require long hospital stays can now be completed in much less time or even outside a hospital environment. However, we have to make sure the balance is right, and the government is doing this.

In the 2004-05 budget the government provided $2 million to ease the access block in our emergency departments by providing more beds in other parts of the hospital. Observation units at the Canberra Hospital and Calvary Public Hospital will provide 17 beds for longer-term care for people who need more than ED care but may not need an admission to an inpatient ward. Four more inpatient medical beds will be provided at Calvary Public Hospital to cater for the considerable increase in medical services demand experienced during 2003-04.

Further, the establishment of a transitional care service in collaboration with the Commonwealth will provide a more appropriate environment for people currently in our hospitals waiting for residential care services. This will free up 25 additional inpatient beds. The sub-acute facility will soon be a reality. This facility will also free up inpatient beds by providing a more appropriate environment for rehabilitation than an acute care service can provide. And this, Mr Speaker, will free up a further 60 inpatient beds.

ACT Health is working with the New South Wales Southern Area Health Service in the development of services within the region. As part of this development, the new Queanbeyan Hospital will increase the number of inpatient beds in the region and reduce some of the flows from across the border into ACT hospitals. Under this proposal, a further 30 beds will be added to the capacity of the region’s hospitals. Also an after-hours primary care service is in its final stages of development, which will reduce the number of lower acuity patient presentations in our emergency departments.

So to recap, Mr Speaker: there is an issue about access to inpatient beds. We are implementing, as I have outlined, a whole range of issues that will significantly improve the situation both in the short and longer terms. By 2007 the ACT community will have

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