Page 2921 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 16 October 2007
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processes in operation at accident and emergency that would reveal the range of systemic issues—in other words, those issues relevant to the system—that actually were part and parcel of this particular incident, this particular death.
We are talking about system issues—that is what “systemic” means—and in the context of systemic issues we are talking about the system that applied, the system that was in place, the decisions that were taken, the decisions that were not taken, the clinical judgements that were exercised, the clinical judgements that were not exercised. Those are systemic issues and there is a full, open, transparent, internal clinical process looking at each and every one of the aspects of this particular case, which will be followed by a full coronial inquest into all the incidents of this particular exercise, and the government welcomes that, will participate fully and will respond appropriately to both of those inquiries.
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Stefaniak.
MR STEFANIAK: Thanks, Mr Speaker. Thanks, Chief Minister, for the answer. Chief Minister, why has your government been slow to recognise that the systemic issues are related to the management of our hospitals?
MR STANHOPE: The government has not been slow to recognise any such thing; it is a nonsense. It actually misunderstands the meaning of the word “systemic”. “Systemic” means “of the system” or “of the systems” and, of course, there are myriad systems in relation to the operation of the public health system and, indeed, the operation of a hospital. It is those systems that are essentially part and parcel of the conduct and operation of the hospital which will be subjected to enormous scrutiny, as they should be and as they rightly will be, because it is important that we take account of every step of the process and of the lessons that might be learnt from such a deep, clinical and objective review and assessment of the issues that are relevant to such an investigation or inquiry into this tragic death.
Hospitals—community satisfaction
MS MacDONALD: My question is to Mr Corbell in his capacity as Acting Minister for Health. Minister, could you update the Assembly on levels of satisfaction in the community with our hospital services?
MR CORBELL: I thank Ms MacDonald for the question. Given the record of those opposite, who are always focused on talking down our health system, it is timely that we consider some of the objective research which I released today into what the ACT community thinks of its public hospitals.
We are committed to accurately gauging the level of community satisfaction or otherwise with our hospitals and identifying where there are areas that need further attention—not simply relying on the constant scaremongering we hear from those opposite. Consistent with this, the government commissioned UltraFeedback to collect, analyse and report on data on satisfaction levels of patients at the Canberra
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