Page 193 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 6 March 2007
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MR STANHOPE: Similarly, I do not have that detail with me. I think I indicated earlier in response to a question from the shadow Treasurer that at this stage there was an expectation that the variations would not be particularly large but we do not know that, though on a first test run the variations were incredibly small. Indeed, the variations went both ways to the extent that some of our public servants had been underpaid and others had been overpaid. So at this stage we do not know the detail of the variations.
I indicated that on that first test run the first of the discrepancies that had been tested were somewhere of the order of a dollar; nevertheless a dollar was a dollar. Similarly, there were amounts of a similar order in which an assessment of $1 over that which was payable could also be made. I am sorry, Mr Mulcahy; I do not have the detail with me today. I will provide a full response to each of the questions that you have raised.
Public health services
MS PORTER: My question is to the Minister for Health. Can the minister advise the Assembly of the impact of the new sub and non-acute facility on the type and level of public health services provided in the ACT community?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank Ms Porter for the question. As many members would know, on 15 February 2007, the new sub and non-acute facility was officially opened on the Calvary campus on the north side of Canberra. This facility will provide a major enhancement to the types of public services available for the people of the ACT. It is an area which, over many years, has been identified as a gap in the provision of health care. Anyone who has been in this job has realised that there is a need to provide some step-down from acute hospital bed care to more transitional support while people prepare to go home or into other types of care.
This new sub and non-acute service was actually established early last year by extending the nine-bed convalescent service at Calvary Public Hospital into a 19-bed aged care and rehabilitation service. So in February last year we added 10 beds to Calvary Public Hospital.
The completion of the new, purpose-built facility, also known as the Keaney building, will provide another extension to this service by adding 41 beds, to be shared across the Aged Care and Rehabilitation Service and the older persons’ mental health unit. That is in addition to the 19 beds. The new facility will provide a range of services to assist older people to make the best possible recovery before heading home or moving into other types of care.
The service will provide important treatment for many older patients. It will provide time to recover. In addition, the service will provide treatment, care and rehabilitation services in a more appropriate environment than a hospital ward. All those who attended the opening or have had the opportunity to visit the facility since will have seen that it is a homelier environment than, perhaps, a hospital ward is able to provide.
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