Page 2839 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 29 June 2010
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Attachment 1
Document incorporated by the Chief Minister
Mr Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to provide the members of the Assembly with an update on the Government’s progress in achieving the goals of The Canberra Plan: Towards our Second Century. This is the second update since we released the Plan in 2008, and once again the news is good for our community.
“The Canberra Plan – Towards Our Second Century” revolves around seven key themes and I’d like to take the opportunity to outline some of the milestones against each of the key themes.
Quality Health Care
Mr Speaker, the delivery of quality health care is important to the people of Canberra, and the ACT Government strives to constantly improve health care for all Canberrans.
I mentioned in my 2009 report that community demand for health services is projected to increase rapidly over the next 15 years, and beyond. By 2022, the ACT’s public hospital admissions are projected to increase by 77 percent and overnight hospital admissions will increase by 49 percent. The ACT can not effectively manage this increased level of demand alone.
At the April 2010 COAG meeting, with the ACT agreed to a new National Health and Hospitals Network Agreement. Over the next four years, the ACT health system will be enhanced through Commonwealth investment of around $90 million. From 2014-15 to 2019-20, the reforms are estimated to provide at least $248 million in benefits to the ACT.
The ACT Government committed $300 million over 4 years in the 2008-09 budget, a further $148 million in the 2009-2010 budget and an additional $33.1 million in the 2010-11 Budget for the implementation of the ACT Health Capital Asset Development Plan. We also received a further $27.9 million from the Commonwealth for phase 1 of the ACT’s Capital Region Cancer Centre.
The Capital Asset Development Plan provides the blueprint to respond to the pressures of an ageing population and continued growth in demand for health services. Some notable achievements in implementing the plan include:
Two additional operating theatres at the Canberra Hospital;
43 additional beds at the Canberra Hospital Campus;
A Mental Health Assessment Unit;
The Walk-In-Centre at the Canberra Hospital;
Construction commencement of the neurosurgery suite at Canberra Hospital and a new 16 bed high intensity care facilities at Calvary Hospital.
access health, released in August 2007, states that the Government’s top priority is timely access to care, based on clinical priority. Performance against access health’s key performance indicators has again been strong in the last year. Of particular note:
The occupancy rate of overnight hospital beds in the ACT has decreased from 97 percent in 2005/06 to 85 percent for the first nine months of the 2009-10 financial year; and
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