Page 3587 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 2010
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No wonder the doctors were so frustrated, because they knew that they had made the complaints. A number of them rang my office and said: “Trust us, we have made complaints. We have been making these complaints repeatedly.” What I am asking the minister to do, I think, is reasonable. It is to apologise in writing to the obstetrics staff at the Canberra Hospital over the last three years for ACT Health’s failure to adequately address their concerns and their ongoing attacks on their credibility.
It is quite clear that the doctors who made these complaints and who work in these very difficult circumstances then had the minister and the Chief Executive of ACT Health denying that they had made those complaints. Can you imagine if you were a doctor or a midwife and you had been trying to make those complaints for years, the management acknowledged that, yes, those complaints were made, but you see in the media the minister coming out and saying, “No, this is doctor politics. This is mud-slinging. No complaints have been made”? I think that warrants an apology. I think that would be the right thing to do and would help in the healing process as we move forward here. I think that would be very important.
I think that she should also apologise to the Assembly and to the community for her misleading statements that no complaints had been made and no issues need to be addressed. As we have addressed in the motion, just as she has denied the complaints and matters between the doctors, there are a number of times in this place, and we have gone through them previously in the Hansard, where she denied to us that there are any problems. I call on the minister to release the bullying review—
Ms Gallagher: There is that healing side of you again. You are just caring about healing.
MR HANSON: Well, cut the names out but let us release it. Let us be open, honest and accountable because when people have seen you denying in the media that complaints were made around May, then the natural conclusion is that this was a cover-up. This was either a cover-up or negligence. I think people want to know which one it is.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (8.26): The Greens value the work that has been undertaken through A Review of Service Delivery and Clinical Outcomes at Public Maternity Units in the Australian Capital Territory. The review has provided evidence to show that issues affecting our obstetrics units are not black and white and a range of policy responses are required. When it comes to acknowledgement of the problems, and identified solutions, it appears that the Greens agree with neither the Liberal nor Labor parties on all matters.
There are inaccuracies and omissions in Mr Hanson’s motion that the Greens cannot support. The Greens do believe that it is important that motions we pass in the Assembly be an accurate reflection of the facts. Starting with paragraph (1)(a), it seems inaccurate for the motion not to recognise that the recently completed review into clinical outcomes provides evidence to show that the obstetrics units at the Canberra Hospital and also at Calvary are achieving clinical outcomes that are consistent with comparable hospitals in Australia and New Zealand.
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