Page 1261 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 March 2013
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Let me remind you why. It is because it is the worst performing, in terms of the key indicators, in the nation. And the last quarterly report shows that, for people seen on time, it has deteriorated from 54 per cent, which was the worst in the nation, to 50 per cent. Across all categories we saw deterioration. So if you are category 3, if you are meant to be receiving urgent care, only 42 per cent of people are seen on time. That is disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful. For category 4, semi-urgent, only 44 per cent are seen on time. And I notice that all the Labor members, other than Ms Burch and Ms Gallagher, have disappeared upstairs, no doubt to watch the federal Labor Party implode.
But let us see what the Auditor-General said. The Chief Minister is having another little smirk. The Auditor-General said in relation to the emergency department:
Since 2000-01, based on the Health Directorate’s publicly reported performance information, there has been variable performance against waiting time indicators, and it is apparent there has been an overall decline in performance over the last ten years.
Since this mob got into government! The Auditor-General had a look at it and said, “Decline, decline, decline.” No wonder the minister did not want to have the Auditor-General have a look. And why was the Auditor-General there in the first place? Why was she there? Members, let us remind ourselves that there was a fabrication, a massive fabrication. Let me quote:
There is evidence to indicate that the hospital records relating to Emergency Department performance were manipulated between 2009 and early 2012. It is likely that up to 11,700 records in relation to the Emergency Department presentations were manipulated during that period.
The consequence of that manipulation is that the emergency department is the worst performing in the nation. At the time that this originated, the minister said, “It is just paperwork. Do not worry about it. It is just statistics.” But she has changed her tune now and admits that because she was fooled—and we were all fooled—about the state of our emergency department, the resources did not go in there and as a consequence patients, Canberrans, are waiting longer than anywhere.
Why did the senior executive, Kate Jackson, falsify the results? Why did she? Let us have a look at what she said. She said:
The whole organisation at a senior level is focused on performance. It’s seen as an imperative politically—
an imperative politically—
to ensure that we meet the target and I think people felt at different levels increasing pressure that needed to be met.
So people were under pressure, for a political imperative, to make this government look good and make this minister look good. And maybe there was fear. She said:
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