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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 10 Hansard (Wednesday, 25 August 2004) . . Page.. 4175 ..

Management changes would also see specialist doctors’ rounds conducted before 10 am. This can also free up beds sooner. Nurse practitioners, recently legislated for in the ACT by this government—

At 5.00 pm, in accordance with standing order 34, the debate was interrupted. The motion for the adjournment of the Assembly having been put and negatived, the debate was resumed.

MR CORBELL: Nurse practitioners, for whom we recently legislated in the ACT, will help relieve pressure on doctors by taking over some of the roles currently performed by them.

In the longer term we continue to implement a range of initiatives. There has been the establishment of observation units at the Canberra Hospital and Calvary Public Hospital to provide 17 beds for longer term care for people who need more than ED care but may not need admission to an inpatient ward. They are up and operating. There are four more inpatient medical beds to be provided at the Calvary Public Hospital to cater for the considerable increase in demand for medical services experienced during the last financial year.

There is the establishment of a transitional care service in collaboration with the Commonwealth to provide a more appropriate environment for people currently in our hospitals waiting for residential care services. Of course, up to 50 beds are available through our initiative.

There is the establishment of a sub-acute facility to free up about 60 inpatient beds by providing a more appropriate environment for rehabilitation than an acute care service can provide. The money is there; the site has been identified; planning is underway to commence construction.

Working in collaboration with the Greater Southern Area Health Service in developing services within the region, such as the redevelopment of the Queanbeyan Hospital, we will provide a further 30 beds. This will be added to the capacity of the region’s hospitals.

It is worth highlighting that this government is the first since self-government to have resolved a VMO pay negotiation without disruption in our public hospitals.

In addition, we have also achieved pay negotiations with the Australian Nursing Federation and public sector nursing staff—again, without disruption in our public hospitals. This is a significant record of achievement—one that the community expects, but regrettably one on which the previous government was unable to deliver.

The government has initiated a broader range of measures across the health system. Of course, we have paid $3 million to expand the Emergency Department at Calvary Hospital. We have spent over a million dollars on new cancer equipment at the Canberra Hospital. We have expanded and revitalised the clinical decisions unit at the Calvary Hospital, expanding the capacity of the Emergency Department there.

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