Page 689 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 11 February 2009
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Since giving notice of my motion in December, there have been a number of other reports on the ACT’s health system, including the Productivity Commission’s report on government services 2009, the health department’s own quarterly report and research that has been released by the Primary Health Care Research and Information Service.
Unfortunately, these reports present an equally damning review of our health system and are in most areas within a percentage or two entirely consistent with the AMA’s own findings. My intent in moving this motion is to outline the numerous problems facing our health system here in the ACT and to seek some answers from the minister on when we will see some positive outcomes. I also call on her to make improvements to our own ailing health system. We are the wealthiest jurisdiction in Australia and it is my contention that we should also be the healthiest.
I will firstly outline some of the problems that we face drawn on evidence presented in the reports I have mentioned. Firstly, I raise the issue of bed occupancy. Our bed occupancy rates are at dangerous levels. I believe that this has been acknowledged by the government. Our rate sits at about 88 per cent to 89 per cent when 85 per cent and above is considered dangerous by the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine. Occupancy rates above this level place patients at considerable and unnecessary risk. I quote from the AMA’s report:
They risk systemic failure and compromise patient safety. The 85 per cent rule should apply in every hospital.
As we see in the ACT, that is not the case. The second issue I have is that of elective surgery rates, which are amongst the worst in the nation. The ACT has experienced an increase in the median wait for category 2 patients—that is, category 2 patients with surgery desirable within 90 days—up to September 2008. This has increased to a median wait time of 99 days which, according to the AMA, is the worst in Australia.
The third issue is that of our emergency departments. Waiting times through a number of categories there are the worst in the nation. The ACT continues to fail to meet its targets for triage category 3, which is treatment within 30 minutes and category 4, which is treatment within 60 minutes. Approximately 45 per cent and 41 per cent of patients respectively in those categories are seen within the required times. This, again, is the worst in Australia.
The fourth issue that I raise is the worsening waiting time for cancer patients waiting for radiotherapy treatments. Unfortunately, we saw recently that the Capital Region Cancer Service has been unable to meet an increased demand for its services from January to September, with 77 per cent of radiography patients being seen. That is down from a previous mark of 82 per cent.
At 6.00 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.
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