Page 3434 - Week 08 - Thursday, 23 August 2012
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want to see waiting time pressures affect their good work. Similar stories have come through from other doctors and nurses who say they are already under enormous pressure and staff need to be able to do their jobs and not have added pressure or burdens placed on them. I have talked on many occasions about the use of the four-hour waiting time being discontinued in the UK.
The Local Hospital Network Council is to provide advice on clinical and corporate governance, standards of patient care and community and clinician involvement in the planning of services. This will include dealing with the new activity-based funding and purchase services from the four hospitals in the ACT.
With regard to dental health, the Greens have been advocating for a federal denticare scheme. The removal of federal funding for dental services under the Howard government had a significant impact on state dental services. Dental health is integral to a person’s overall health and often gets overlooked because many people cannot afford private dental care. It is time that a national dental scheme was given priority in recognition of the major impact a lack of dental care has on a person’s overall health and wellbeing.
The ACT, through the last commonwealth budget, will receive additional funds for public dental services. If I recall correctly, it is increasing from about $9 million to $10 million this year. The government was not able to provide the details through the estimates committee on how that additional funding would be spent, although it seems the recent announcement of a mobile dental clinic fits with the extra commonwealth funding model.
Through the estimates process we asked what progress had been made to allow private practising midwives to have their care plans recognised by the hospitals so that their clients could claim Medicare benefits, something which has been denied to ACT women since the Medicare benefits began. There has been progress on this at a national level with the extension of insurance cover and a change in the collaborative arrangements where a midwife now requires an agreement with the health service rather than an individual medical practitioner. This is, I have to say, a very positive step, and hopefully it will lead to this matter being resolved. I note that the estimates recommendation is agreed in principle by the government. It states that the Health Directorate is working to progress the commonwealth directives.
We also asked through estimates about Calvary staff entitlements, which was an issue identified by the Greens in last year’s budget estimates process. Through questioning this year it was evident that no progress has been made with both Calvary and the government counterclaiming that the other party is liable. While there is little chance of the entitlements needing to be paid out to the staff any time soon, it is workers’ entitlements at risk, and the Greens believe this issue must be resolved.
I was not going to comment on Mr Hanson, but I have to, and the issue of personal attacks. Mr Hanson, I think, has made a practice over the last four years of personally attacking people. I think he has crossed the line a number of times. I have been the subject of that as well. Often they are things which are not actually recorded in Hansard. I find it extremely disingenuous of him to get up tonight and talk about negativity and personal attacks and display a glass jaw—
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