Page 135 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 16 February 2011
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The report stated:
In the absence of required documents, Audit was unable to form a view on the validity of the clinical reclassifications.
It said:
There were deficiencies in processing patients on to the elective surgery waiting list.
And further:
Recent reviews commissioned by the Department indicate significant issues concerning the delivery of surgical services and management of operating theatres, which have contributed to the long waiting lists.
The issues go on and on, and the minister’s denials go on and on too. This minister pretends to take responsibility and says the buck stops with her, but, like the Chief Minister, refuses to actually take her share of the load. The latest report by the Auditor-General is not the first report, professional association or stakeholder group to come out and say things have to change. For years now, Mr Hanson has been suggesting ideas for implementation and highlighting concerns with the running of the Health portfolio.
The residents of Canberra and the region deserve better than what we have in health minister Gallagher. We have had a minister who signs on to agreements without even looking at the details. Why? Because this minister thinks that anything must be better than what they offer at the moment.
This minister is desperate to pass the buck on to another funding body, another bureaucracy, another management team or another minister. However, the first national health agreement, the one championed by Prime Minister Rudd, which we blindly signed on to, was thrown out the window, along with the buck-passing of Ms Gallagher. Now she has signed us up to another agreement. However, like all government initiatives, the devil is in the detail and we await exactly what the health minister has given in-principle support to.
Recently we heard of how the president of the ACT Visiting Medical Officers Association has stated that he has lost confidence in Ms Gallagher’s ability to serve as health minister. This sort of statement does not happen very often. It is not a common occurrence for a distinguished person representing a body such as the VMOs to come out and make the statement he did.
What do the minister and the Chief Minister do? They engage in the usual game of trying to play the man, to discredit the position. For ministers that regularly harp on about or accuse us of playing politics or having a go at individuals, the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister are experts at hiding behind public servants or flexing their muscles to bully individuals.
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