Page 1091 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 30 March 2011
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things out of his motion, but I do not think he is intentionally trying to mislead either. I do not believe that is something we should be including. When looking at the bigger picture of the Health portfolio, it is misleading of the Liberals to just focus on elective surgery and the emergency department, and it is also misleading of governments to just focus on hospitals. One of the things you could use as an analogy is that people are essentially arguing about the state of the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff but they are failing to look up at the fence that is preventing people from falling over.
If we really want to make a difference to the health outcomes of the ACT people, we must start talking about the social determinants of health. We know that people on low incomes are much more likely to die young, suffer greater burdens of disease and have problems accessing health services. This is where improvements can and should be made.
Paragraph (2) calls on the Minister for Health to acknowledge that access for patients seeking elective surgery and emergency department treatment has deteriorated. The Greens agree with this clause. The minister needs to acknowledge the problem, but it would be even more helpful if the government could explain exactly why they believe the problem exists.
Paragraph (2)(b) calls on the minister to acknowledge that a significant proportion of other outcomes measured in the report have also deteriorated. As I previously stated, the Greens have assessed the quarterly report as more half and half, so it depends how one defines the term “a significant proportion”. Perhaps it would be better if the motion stated, “We call on the Minister for Health to acknowledge those other outcomes measures in the report have deteriorated.” I will be moving an amendment later which I think will achieve more of a balance.
Paragraph (2)(c) calls on the Minister for Health to provide a more accurate and honest summation of public health services in the minister’s foreword to ACT health quarterly performance reports and accompanying press releases. The Greens agree with this request. The foreword and media release are quite glossy and provide a one-sided view. The minister suggested we are trying to say that all press releases should be included. We are not saying that at all. It is actually just about those that accompanied these particular reports. I think that is a fair request.
I previously mentioned outcome measures. The amendment I propose will include that. Outcome measures are a really important thing that we should start looking at. As I said, when you just have a number it does not really tell you whether people are getting better—what the health system is doing to help people get better and if it is delivering good outcomes. This is something which a lot of different groups are calling for. When we look even at emergency department waiting times, it does not tell you much about the patient who went through there and whether it is a good thing to actually get somebody through in four hours. That is a debate to have. As I said, I have an amendment to Ms Gallagher’s amendment to Mr Hanson’s motion. I move the amendment circulated in my name:
Omit all words after “notes”, substitute:
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