Page 2079 - Week 06 - Thursday, 26 June 2008
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MS GALLAGHER: The ACT currently enjoys the best life expectancy and the best health status of any jurisdiction in Australia. This makes us amongst the healthiest communities in the world. The Canberra region has access to a modern, well-equipped and effective health system. Nevertheless, the system is faced with a number of challenges. Some are present now, whilst others will emerge in the future, including an ageing asset base, some of which is 30 years old.
Across Australia and in most industrialised countries, health systems are under enormous pressure, caused by an ageing population, the impact of new technologies, escalating global workforce shortage and increasing consumer demands. These increased demands are represented in public hospitals running at near capacity for increasing periods of time, high bed occupancy rates, access block, extended elective surgery waiting times, overcrowded emergency departments and growing outpatient waiting times. The wider health system also faces increasing waiting times for community-based services.
Workforce shortage also looms as a major future challenge. By the year 2032, Canberra’s population is projected to grow by 67,000 people to over 389,000, with the proportion of our population over 65 expected to increase from 9.7 per cent in 2002 to 25.6 per cent in 2032. In addition, the ACT health system services a surrounding regional population in south-east New South Wales. This region will also experience similar degrees of growth and a more significant aged population profile, with 24 per cent of the catchment population in the region projected to be aged over 65 in 2022 and 30 per cent by 2032.
ACT Health has commenced a structured approach to addressing these issues in 2005-06, at my request. The initiatives we introduced are comprehensive targets for improving timely access to care, systematic reporting mechanisms, targeted demand management initiatives, such as chronic disease management, falls prevention and after-hours GP services. Targeted capacity increases are beds, operating theatre times, community-based services, system redesign by the access improvement program and new workforce roles, including nurse practitioner and allied health assistants.
While these initiatives improve the performance of the system, there continues to be unprecedented increases in demand for health services. This pattern of rising demand is projected to continue for the next 10 to 15 years. Whilst incremental approaches will assist in the short to medium term, a major increase in the capacity of our public health system is required. It is highly probable that the demand pressures currently felt by the ACT public health system will progressively become the normal state of activity to the point of it being unsustainable.
Limited access to services will place unacceptable risk to patient and staff safety unless specific interventions are put in place now. Incremental change will no longer be sufficient. We need to look at our total health system, including new ways to manage chronic disease, keeping people out of hospital, better use of technology and different ways of supporting hospital care, such as community-based support or other step-up, step-down facilities.
However all of these new approaches will require the right infrastructure to support them. ACT Health has developed a capital asset development plan in response to the
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