Page 631 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 24 February 2010
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able to do that, who are unable to put their side of the story forward and who are unable to challenge the allegations. I think that is extremely unfortunate.
What Mr Hanson has picked up is one side of a much more complex picture that deserves the full attention of external processes. I have agreed to that. The first process is to validate the service, because I think that is important. We do not need anyone wandering around saying that women and children are going to die or have serious injury if they attend the Canberra Hospital, which is what Mr Hanson thinks.
We need that service validated, we need the benchmarking data to be made public and we need to have a look at what is happening in the private system. I think maybe we should go as far as looking at whether there have been complaints to the medical board across the community. Let us examine that. Let us get everything out on the table and explore these issues and perhaps some of the different perspectives that exist.
In relation to the concerns around workplace culture, including allegations of bullying and harassment, that will be a separate process which will start immediately. We are still finalising the terms of reference for that and the expert that we will use. I know that that is well underway. I will be speaking with Health probably tomorrow with details of that. I now move an amendment to Mr Hanson’s motion:
Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:
“(1) notes:
(a) that allegations have been raised in the media about the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit at The Canberra Hospital (TCH) covering clinical standards, safety, the relationships between midwives and doctors, and the sustainability of the registrar training program;
(b) that allegations have also been raised about the workplace culture, including bullying and harassment within the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit at TCH;
(c) that the ACT Government has responded to these allegations by announcing two external processes to investigate all of the allegations that have been raised to date, including whether there are broader systemic issues which should be considered;
(d) that the Minister for Health is considering the terms of reference and scope for review of these two processes prior to finalising the details and will report back to the Assembly on the detail once finalised; and
(e) that the Government commits to establishing processes which are inclusive, supportive and protective of everyone who participates in them;
(2) acknowledges the importance of establishing processes which allow for procedural fairness and natural justice principles to be followed for all parties involved;
(3) calls on all of those working in Obstetrics and Gynaecology across the ACT to commit to work co-operatively and collaboratively across the public
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