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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 08 Hansard (Thursday, 5 August 2004) . . Page.. 3531 ..

Yesterday I referred to the money that this government is allocating and to the processes that it is implementing to improve services in emergency departments, and that is in addition to what it has done before. This government is continuing to work to keep up with demand. Over the 1990s it became increasingly difficult to open additional beds due to a reduction in the availability of qualified staff. That factor was mitigated by the increase in same-day activity, which helps to reduce the demand on beds.

Many things that used to require long hospital stays are now being completed in much less time, or even outside a hospital environment. We must make sure that the balance is right. At the moment it is not quite right, but this government is improving it. This government, in its 2004-05 budget, provided $2 million to ease access block in emergency departments by providing more beds in other parts of our hospitals. Observations units at Canberra Hospital and at Calvary Public Hospital will provide 17 beds for longer term care for those who need more than emergency department care but who may not need admission to an inpatient ward. Four more inpatient medical beds will be provided at Calvary Hospital to cater for the considerable increase in demand for medical services experienced during 2003-04.

The establishment of a transitional care service in collaboration with the Commonwealth will provide a more appropriate environment for people currently in hospitals waiting for residential care services. That will free up more than 25 additional inpatient beds. The subacute facility will soon be a reality. It will also free up a further 60 inpatient beds by providing a more appropriate environment for rehabilitation than an acute care service can provide. As part of these developments 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.

Let me recap on debate thus far. An issue has been raised relating to access to inpatient beds, but that issue ought to be sensibly and accurately spelled out. This government is implementing a range of initiatives that will significantly improve the situation in the short and longer term. By 2007 the ACT community will have access to more than 130 additional hospital places. That process, which has now commenced, will provide and fund additional medical and observation unit beds in 2004-05. That is only the start of the government’s reforms.

There are issues relating to our hospital system but this government is fixing them. When this government came into office it continued to work in this area, picking up on the less than good circumstances. The government values the efforts of its hardworking clinicians and support staff. It knows the pressures that they face and it knows that they more than earn the salaries that they make. Mr Smyth said earlier that this government did not value its nurses, which is a lot of nonsense. This government is presently negotiating a fine salary increase for them—it is presently dealing with the detail of that increase—after their salaries were depressed in the time of the former government.

People in the ACT can be confident about the care that they receive in our hospitals. They can be confident that all those responsible for their care are constantly working to improve it. I look forward to further debate about our hospitals but I think I will have to go outside this chamber if I want to get accurate and sensible debate that will assist the government in properly assessing existing circumstances at our hospitals.

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