Page 2663 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 June 2010
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people get access to elective surgery. As part of that, if doctors determine that their patient can wait longer than 30 days for surgery, they can be re-categorised.
But there is a long process to go through and it is done with the surgeon’s approval. I have had no evidence brought to me of a doctor or a surgeon being asked to downgrade their patient just for the convenience of the hospital, which is the argument that Mr Hanson put. I have got no evidence of that.
I have arranged for a briefing of Assembly members—I do not know whether anyone is going to take it up—with Professor Guan Chong from the hospital. I have arranged for him to come and talk to members about how doctors have to manage their lists and the importance of managing the lists. I have arranged for that. I have written to Dr Peter Hughes, who has never written to me about this. He has never, ever written to me about this.
He has written to me about car parking and he has written to me with concerns around doctor referrals and surgeon referrals. Actually, he did not write to me. He wrote to the Chief Executive of ACT Health. I have written to Dr Peter Hughes. I have asked him: “In light of your public comments, what evidence have you got? Have you got anything?” I have not got anything back yet. I have not got anything back. I have not had a patient, apart from the one that appeared in the paper. But that patient has not contacted me. My discussions with ACT Health are around whether there were things that were said to him by the surgical booking staff. Those staff are genuinely concerned that there was a problem with communication. But that is as far as this has got.
This Liberal Party want to censure me around ensuring that the elective surgery waiting lists are appropriately managed at the hospital. If that is what you want to censure me about, having a good audit process, making sure that category 1 patients get their surgery within 30 days, that the most urgent get categorised above others, then, yes, I am guilty of that. But in terms of misleading the Assembly, I have not misled the Assembly. This is the first censure motion that I have had in eight years as minister. I take my responsibilities in terms—
Mr Seselja: So it is not one a month, then, as Jon was saying.
Mr Smyth: So that would be a mislead.
MS GALLAGHER: Not for me, Zed. You have not moved a motion against me. You have moved plenty of other censure motions. I take my responsibilities in keeping the Assembly updated with accurate information and correcting the record if I have to very seriously. But I have gone through the Hansard. There was no mislead last week. If you asked me a different question from the one that you wanted me to answer, that is your problem. That is not mine. That is not my problem. You did not ask me the question that you wanted to ask me. All of my—
Mr Smyth: “Unlikely; not in accordance with policy.”
Mr Hanson: You said it would not be in accordance with the policy.
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