Page 2658 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
“It does happen. There’s no doubt about it.
We asked a number of questions related to this, Mr Speaker, and the minister was quite definitive that this was not a case that was occurring. I will relate to you the question that was asked. There were a number of them:
Minister, would you consider it appropriate or in accordance with policy that ACT Health would be contacting doctors to ask that they downgrade their patients?
In response, the minister said:
It would not be in accordance with the policy …
The minister was asked another question:
Minister, have ACT Health at any stage approached doctors to request that patients be downgraded from urgent to a lower category?
In response, the minister said:
I cannot answer that. Have ACT Health ever asked any doctor around the clinical status of every patient? I cannot answer that question. I think it would be unlikely …
So it is quite clear, on the Tuesday, during question time, that the minister was saying it would be unlikely that ACT Health ever contacted a doctor asking the doctor to downgrade their patient. In fact, she said that “it would not be in accordance with policy”. That is a definitive series of statements. Not only is it on the record—it is in the Hansard—but nobody who would have been listening to that debate, nor anybody who listened to the comments of ACT Health officials or the minister in the media, would be left with anything other than the impression that there was no policy, there was no practice, of ACT Health going to doctors and saying, “We would like you to downgrade a patient.”
However, on Wednesday, the story changed. Part of that involved a letter that was provided, and I will read the relevant extract from that letter. It relates to urgent elective surgery. It says, in part:
We can make this a ‘staged’ procedure for this date. If you accept this date, please re-categorise this patient as a ‘2a Staged Procedure’ …
It is quite clear that what has been happening is that elective surgery patients are being downgraded at the request of ACT Health, and the day before the minister had flatly denied it. I will read from another letter that has been provided and that is reported in the Canberra Times. The clinical director of surgical services, in a draft policy, says:
Many surgeons resist or refuse requests to downgrade the category …
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video