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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 08 Hansard (Thursday, 5 August 2004) . . Page.. 3534 ..

Leave granted.

MRS DUNNE: I table the following papers:

Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM)—Access block and hospital overcrowding—

Copy of letter from the ACT ACEM Faculty dated 28 July 2004.

Position paper.

MS DUNDAS (4.10): The matter of public importance we are debating today is quite similar to one we debated a month ago, that is, whether or not we have an ongoing crisis in the ACT public hospital system. We are hearing varying degrees of evidence about whether or not we are having a crisis. I think one thing we can all agree on is that the answer to the question “Should we be doing better?” is yes. We should be aiming for that highest common denominator; we should be working to ensure that the hospital care and the health care that Canberrans get, that residents of the ACT get, and that is provided to the region around the ACT, are of the best possible standard.

Just recently I had the privilege of visiting Calvary hospital as a very healthy person, and have a tour of the facilities there. I was able to see the work that they are doing to help those who are quite ill. I thank the staff of Calvary hospital for taking time out to give me a better understanding of the workings of their hospital. I would like to thank Robert Cusack, the chief executive officer, and Sue Minta, the director of maternity services, for taking time out of their very busy day to talk to and advise me. From that visit I believe that the public health services at Calvary are operating at a very high level. In many cases it is hard to see the difference between public and private services, and I think that reflects Calvary’s overall commitment to excellence in care, and that is something that needs to be supported.

On my tour of Calvary I came across a ward that was empty. There were beds that were all done up, there was some basic equipment, but there were no patients. Yet in other parts of the hospital I saw a lot of patients taking up space and there was some discussion about whether or not those areas were overcrowded. I just stopped and had to ask, “Why are these beds empty? Why are the lights not turned on in this wing? What is happening here?” I was informed that these beds had previously been funded, that funds had been available to keep them operational and have patients in them, but that funding had been cut several budgets ago and had not yet been returned.

So we have beds actually waiting for patients. The problem is we do not have the nurses being funded to support those beds; we do not have the doctors being funded to support those beds, and in that sense those beds are not being used. There are empty beds in our hospitals. I think we seriously need to think about how we can help people get out of emergency departments and into the wards where they can have longer term support for their health issues. I think we need to focus on that because the beds are there. We just need to look at how we are resourcing our nurses, our support staff and our doctors to allow them to help people when those beds come on line.

I think one of the things that have not been mentioned in this debate today is that the vast majority of the problems in our health system are caused outside our hospitals and are

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