Page 36 - Week 01 - Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MS GALLAGHER: The Auditor-General’s report did not find either of those things. There is no evidence of any doctoring of any lists, Mr Hanson. The Auditor-General has been through this; we have had a number of internal reviews here. What is picked up is poor practice from all sides, from surgical booking sides and from the doctors—
Mr Smyth: Oh, so now you’re blaming the surgical booking side?
MS GALLAGHER: Mr Smyth, I do not sit there and fill out the forms for reclassification. As much as I am a hands-on health minister, I am not actually stationed in the surgical bookings area, filling out the form. The audit has found that the forms have not been filled in correctly, and they need to be filled in correctly so that people can have that confidence. We accept that. The forms have been changed already. There is a policy of no reclassification without a form, without that form being signed and without a clinical reason being provided by the doctors. That is causing some concern at the hospital at the moment in terms of the efficiency of the process, but this is the policy that we have. This is a policy that I do not think any other jurisdiction has. We set the bar higher here in terms of trying to have the processes in place that manage the list appropriately, and there has been absolutely no evidence of any doctoring or incorrect waiting list data.
MR HANSON: A supplementary, Mr Speaker?
MR SPEAKER: Yes, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, how bad would waiting lists and waiting times statistics for category 1 be if ACT Health had not been downgrading patients inappropriately?
MS GALLAGHER: If Mr Hanson had done his job properly as shadow minister for health, he would have read in the annual report the figure which is, I think, from memory, 88 per cent. That incorporated this data and if you had read the annual report you would have seen it. The annual report has been out and available to members of the opposition since September.
Mr Hanson: What is the figure?
MS GALLAGHER: I have given it to you. Go and read it. I gave it to you, 88 per cent.
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Smyth?
MR SMYTH: Thank you, Mr Speaker. Minister, how can the people of Canberra have confidence that you know what is happening in your portfolio when the Auditor-General’s report suggests otherwise?
MS GALLAGHER: I have not found that bit in the audit report, Mr Smyth, where it says that.
Mr Smyth: Read the report. It’s been out for several weeks now, Minister.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video