Page 3161 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 22 August 2012
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MS GALLAGHER: Canberrans do have confidence in their health system. That is not to say that there are not people out there who have had a bad experience in the health system, whether it be in the public system, the private system, at Canberra Hospital or at Calvary hospital. That is because of the nature of the health system. But I say that the vast majority of Canberrans do have, and should have, faith in the public health system, and it is our job to ensure that that confidence is maintained, not constantly denigrated, as is the only position of the Liberal Party at this point in time—to do just that.
MR SPEAKER: A supplementary, Mr Seselja.
MR SESELJA: Minister, what do you say to Holly Chaloner and her family in relation to their experience and how can Holly and others be confident that if she or her family present to Canberra Hospital in future the same tragic circumstances will not happen again?
MS GALLAGHER: I will just repeat the comments I have made. Nobody wants anyone to have a poor experience at any hospital, whether it be the public or the private hospitals in Canberra. The measure of a good hospital is when catastrophic mistakes are made—and there was a massive mistake made in relation to this family and in particular to Mrs Thatcher—the system responds, just like it did when Dr Newcombe was operating, under the Liberal Party’s watch, and causing such distress to all of those people. These situations occur in hospitals and it is time that there was some acknowledgement of that, that sometimes mistakes are made. What hospitals need to do is admit the mistake, and they do that very quickly, quicker than any other area of government, I would say, through their open disclosure processes.
The matter that was being talked about in the Assembly today was subject to a coronial process. There has been a clinical review process underway of the situation, what led to it and what needs to be done to stop it occurring again. That in itself should maintain the confidence of the public in the public health system. But these incidents do occur. And they occur in the public system, they occur in the private system. They are not only catastrophic for the family involved, they are catastrophic in the impact that they have on the surgeons involved, in this case, and indeed the staff that were involved in the operating theatre. Let us just spend a moment thinking about them as well.
MR HANSON: A supplementary, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, why is it that Ms Thatcher’s family’s only option to try and prevent these circumstances from happening again is to go through the court system and present their case to the media?
MS GALLAGHER: That is a matter for the family. There are a range of ways for individuals to pursue matters, of which the court is a legitimate one, and one which I understand this family has chosen.
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