Page 6109 - Week 14 - Thursday, 9 December 2010
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discussions we had had with the commonwealth about improving timeliness in the emergency department.
Anyway, at the end of the day it will be reviewed after 12 months. It will be an independent review, not done by ACT Health, and I think that will give us a better indication of whether you can correlate having the walk-in centre on the TCH site causing increased presentations to the emergency department.
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Coe?
MR COE: Minister, Professor Drew Richardson of the ANU medical school said this about the impact of the decision:
Some of those who are attracted to the walk-in centre are not suitable for the walk-in centre and are sent to the emergency department.
Mr Hargreaves: No preamble.
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Coe, sorry, come straight to the question please.
Mr Seselja: We get that from Mr Hargreaves all the time.
MR COE: Minister, will you incorporate Professor Richardson’s—
MR SPEAKER: One moment, Mr Coe. Sorry, Mr Seselja?
Mr Seselja: Yes, I am happy to speak to it. Mr Hargreaves consistently gives preambles to his supplementaries and is very rarely picked up. That has been the consistent pattern over the last few months in this place.
MR SPEAKER: Thank you for your feedback, Mr Seselja. Mr Coe, can we have the question straight up, thank you.
MR COE: Minister, will you incorporate Professor Richardson’s concerns into the review into the nurse-led walk-in clinic at Canberra Hospital campus based on his advice? If so, how, and when will you publish that review?
MS GALLAGHER: Certainly Professor Richardson would be encouraged to provide whatever research he has done into the correlation between the emergency department and the walk-in centre to the independent reviewer. Professor Richardson is a very prominent researcher, and I have no doubt he will provide that research. He is not questioning the model of care necessarily, or he has not done research into that; he is questioning the location of it.
From the discussions I have had with general practice around the location of walk-in centres, they are much more comfortable with them being located near other public health infrastructure rather than having them out in the community. Based on the outcomes of the 12-month review, supposing it says that it is an effective model of care, consumers love it, the out-of-hours access is very well used—all of that—and the next stage is what else we do with the walk-in centre, that will be a difficult
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