Page 2656 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 June 2010
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relating to the first case of a swine flu fatality here in the ACT. We have seen the remarkable case of—
Ms Gallagher: Get back to the mislead, Jeremy. Where is the mislead?
MR HANSON: If you read the motion, Ms Gallagher, you will see it is about mismanagement and misleading.
Mrs Dunne: Mismanagement and misleading. So just wait for it.
Ms Gallagher: I do not think it has been circulated. I have not had the decency of being given the motion.
MR SPEAKER: Order, members!
MR HANSON: We have seen the minister who signed up for 50 per cent of our GST to be spent on the national health reforms whilst she was out there communicating with the public that it was only 30 per cent. We have seen public hospital beds at the lowest rate per capita in the country, which is leading to bed occupancy rates that are above dangerous levels and access block.
Ms Gallagher: You are misleading now, Jeremy. You be careful.
MR SPEAKER: Order, members!
MR HANSON: We have seen, just in the recent budget, the ongoing neglect of mental health here in the community and neglect in preventive health. We have seen infrastructure that has not been delivered, that has been rolled over—$50 million of rollover in health alone this year, on the back of $57 million rolled over last year. We have seen ongoing delays in things like the secure mental health facility, and we have seen the car park fiasco. Many times before I have come to this place and talked about mismanagement. There is no question that this health portfolio, this health system, is being mismanaged under the minister, Katy Gallagher.
I turn to elective surgery as a specific issue in terms of that mismanagement. We have the worst rates for elective surgery in this nation, at double the rate.
Mr Seselja: Worse than New South Wales?
MR HANSON: Far worse than New South Wales, Mr Seselja. The AIHW report that was released on 17 June shows that the rate for the median waiting time for surgery in the ACT has worsened, from 72 days to 75 days in the last year. And that is 31 days longer than the national average of 34 days. It is at least twice the national average. The report also shows that since the previous report that was released in 2009 the length of time that the majority of elective surgery patients are waiting has worsened from 372 days to 378 days, which is 158 days longer than the national average of 220 days.
The report shows that since the previous report was released the number of people who have been waiting longer than a year has increased from 10.3 per cent to 10.6
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