Page 3669 - Week 08 - Thursday, 19 August 2010
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However, it is important to remember that there will still be an interim need for the territory to purchase additional beds required to service the public health needs of the community. It also does not directly address the accounting issues and the underlying issues with the current agreement that are the major focus of the issue at the moment.
The final option available is to build a new acute public hospital on the north side of Canberra. This would allow Little Company of Mary Health Care to operate and run a private hospital separate to the running of the public hospital and the territory would then enter into a long-term service agreement with Little Company of Mary Health Care to purchase subacute beds within their private hospital.
As I have previously stated, the government now needs to review the options available and consider the most financially responsible way forward. Due to the Little Company of Mary Health Care’s disagreement with the government’s application of the interpretation on service concession arrangements, I requested that PricewaterhouseCoopers confirm their advice and I have recently been advised that PricewaterhouseCoopers have confirmed their advice on the current arrangements. And this is where we currently stand.
The government is still trying to achieve an outcome that will ensure that the objective of providing better health outcomes for the people of Canberra is obtained and protected for the future and continues to negotiate on possible options. Let us not forget that the demand for public hospital services continues to grow and we know that we are reaching the physical capacity limits of our public hospitals and that we need to heavily invest in additional bed capacity over the next decade to meet this demand.
What we want to achieve is to identify the most financially responsible way forward. It may take time for us to get this right but we will continue to maintain and improve current services while we work to make things better into the future. I will review all the options available to the government to ensure that the growing demand for health care is met and protected. And I will continue to discuss and negotiate with Little Company of Mary Health Care with the sole focus on reaching the best outcomes for the future health needs of our city.
These negotiations are all about ensuring that the ACT community has the best possible healthcare system into the future. We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to seize the opportunity afforded to us by the need to rebuild our health infrastructure to get our health system right, a healthcare system that will serve our community’s need in the most efficient, effective and coordinated way. This is not about the short term. It is about creating the system we will need to serve this community over the next 50 years.
These negotiations are extremely complex and they will take time to resolve. I am determined to finalise these negotiations as quickly as possible and I thank the staff at Calvary for their patience during this time. I present the following paper:
Calvary Hospital—Statement by Minister Katy Gallagher MLA.
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