Page 1363 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
There are other areas where the regional health system does work very well. I know on a day-to-day basis our hospitals are dealing with hospitals in Bega, Batemans Bay, Pambula and out at Yass. Those health professionals work very well in providing clinical support and transfer arrangements for patients when they need it. But again my view is that we need to do some better planning about decisions that are taken both in the ACT and New South Wales out of respect for the relationship, considering that 25 per cent of our work in the ACT certainly is New South Wales work. If we can get a better understanding of what services they are prepared to provide and staffing that is provided in those settings, it makes our job easier about planning as best we can the work that is going to head our way.
I remember a couple of years ago there was a change in some cancer services that were being offered, or in this case were not being offered, and we did notice an increase relatively quickly in the number of people coming to the ACT seeking treatment. So that is an important area where we need to do more work. But I would have to say that I think the regional network in a sense, whilst it is not administratively very clear, does work very well and people are treated in accordance with their clinical need regardless of where they live.
I know in renal services lately we have been doing some work around providing a renal service network with some dialysis facilities under clinical guidance from Canberra, to be able to provide those services in Cooma, with further units proposed in Young and Tumut. I know the clinical director of that service is very keen to make sure that the regional focus is maintained and that, whilst people might come to the Canberra Hospital at different points in time, a lot of their treatment can be offered in their regional settings under guidance from a tertiary and specialist hospital.
A lot of good work happens in the cross-border area. I think we will always disagree on how much we should be paid for it, and those discussions will always be robust. But it is important to note that we usually do end up with an arbitrated outcome and the parties abide by that arbitrated outcome. That is an important way that we resolve differences of opinion about how much we should pay for these services.
But the other positive is that having a greater catchment, heading up to 600,000 people for a health network, does mean that Canberra Hospital and Calvary are able to provide more services than they would normally should their population be only 360,000. That is important to remember. It is not just a one-way street. We attract health professionals here because of the complexity of the patients that present, and that is part of a regional setting. If we were just the ACT alone and not caring about our regional boundaries, we would not be able to offer the range of services that we currently do to our own community, and I think that is important to remember in the debate.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Hargreaves): There being 15 seconds left, members, I would rule that the time for the discussion has now expired.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video