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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Wednesday, 23 June 2004) . . Page.. 2472 ..

Mrs Dunne: And whose fault is that?

MR CORBELL: You just can’t help yourself, can you, Mrs Dunne?

MR SPEAKER: Order, Mrs Dunne!

MR CORBELL: You persistently interject. You just can’t help yourself.

MR SPEAKER: Order, Minister!

MR CORBELL: You can’t give anyone the courtesy—

MR SPEAKER: Members of the opposition will remain silent.

MR CORBELL: The bottom line is that we will not have transitional care beds. I am sorry that Ms Tucker was not here for the earlier part of my speech because she would have heard quite clearly the rationale behind what these transitional care beds are for.

Very quickly, in summation, these transitional care beds will shift nursing home type patients currently occupying acute care beds—I am glad you are listening, Mr Cornwell; I hope you will be supporting the government on this motion, given your professed interest in nursing home type patients—into a bed funded on a nursing home basis by the federal government in an ACT health setting until they can find a bed in a private nursing home facility. It will free up 40 beds across our two public hospitals for more acute care patients. It will increase the capacity of our emergency department to see people through the system more quickly and have them admitted into a ward if that is their requirement. It will ensure that we have more people able to access equally elective surgery when they need it because it will free up those acute care beds for recovery after surgery. All of these things are important reforms to the health system.

I object most strongly to a proposition from this place that I cannot manage the health system in a way that tries to achieve those outcomes and which, at the same time, does not diminish the provision of rehabilitation services in the ACT. It is a sensible and strategic approach to better manage the pressures in our hospital system. If members vote for this motion today, they will be denying me that opportunity and, more importantly, they will be denying the Canberra community and nursing home type patients the level of care they need and our hospital system the ability to work more effectively overall. The government will be opposing this motion in its present form. I have circulated an amendment in my name. I now move:

Omit all words after “(RILU);”, substitute:

“(b) the Stanhope Government’s commitment to continue the current level of provision of rehabilitation services in the Territory;

(c) the importance of the transitional care facility currently being developed for the future of the ACT health system;

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