Page 2082 - Week 06 - Thursday, 26 June 2008
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introduction of new models of care that are supported by new equipment, workforce design, information management and communication technologies. The next stage of our process will involve significant consultation and engagement with staff, consumers and the broader community.
The last major redevelopment of health facilities, which was mainly on the TCH campus, concluded in 1997—over 11 years ago. Our government is committed to supporting our health facilities, and this is being shown by our commitment to supporting new infrastructure over the past five years, including the ANU Medical School, the sub-acute facility, cancer services through the third linear accelerator and our commitment to improved car parking at the Canberra Hospital.
We have also committed to opening more beds. We have seen a 24 per cent increase in public hospital bed numbers to the end of 2007-08. Based on information from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and ACT Health projections based on budget funding, we can see a definite decline in hospital beds in the mid to late 1990s and then the turnaround which has been progressively delivered under this government. AIHW figures show that, between 1996-97 and 2001-02, the number of beds in the public hospital system declined by 114. Since then the government has provided funding to increase bed capacity to meet demand for services. By the end of 2008-09, we will have funded up to an additional 172 beds within the ACT health system.
The latest AIHW report shows that by the end of 2006-07, we had fully replaced the 114 beds taken from the hospital system by the previous administration. By the end of this financial year, we expect that the ACT public hospital system will have a capacity of 830 beds on average, the highest beds count since 1993-94.
Our planning so far has told us that this is not enough. Our health system cannot be sustainable unless we act now to assure the community that they will have access to care in our health facilities. I can provide the assurance that we are doing just that. In the 2008-09 budget, our government has provided $300 million over the next four years so that the Canberra community has the assurance that we are planning for the health facilities for the next 15 years. This is the first tranche, a down payment on what is likely to be in excess of a $1 billion redevelopment over the next eight to 10 years.
Nationally, there are a number of large developments being undertaken. Those are largely individual hospital sites. What we are doing in the ACT is to review the entire health service—that is, all of our facilities, public hospitals and community health centres.
What will we do with the $300 million over the next four years? This will fund the commencement phase of the total renewal and redevelopment of the infrastructure required to deliver quality health services to the ACT, such as a women’s and children’s hospital at the Canberra Hospital campus. We have identified a critical need to relocate the paediatric unit and co-locate it with maternity services, neonatal intensive care, gynaecology, foetal medicine and specialised outpatient services, thus creating a new and first women’s and children’s hospital.
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