Page 3729 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2013
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occurred, the highest volume of presentations for a month on record. Adding to this, our admission rates via the emergency department have remained the same. However, if you have more presentations and the same proportion admitted, that means we have more people needing beds than ever before. Despite these increases in demand in 2013-14, there has already been a three per cent improvement in overall timeliness, and our NEAT performance has improved to 58.4 per cent from 56.7 per cent at the end of 2012. We are starting to see some positives from the hard work, initiatives and investment that have gone on for several years.
The opposition wishes to continuously compare us to other jurisdictions. I do not believe that anyone here could honestly say that the ACT is comparable to any other state or territory in Australia. If you took the time to compare our results with like hospitals in Sydney, you would clearly see that we are doing as well as or better than those hospitals. The quality of care has been proved to be the best around. We continuously receive positive feedback about the high level of service. I think it is the quality of care we should focus on a little more. We would all like to think that people could walk through the emergency department doors and receive treatment straightaway, then be able to go straight to a ward bed if that is needed. But it simply is not possible. We can always do better, and we will always work hard and invest in our health services so that we can improve.
Let me mention just some of the recent things that we can note that we are doing. The 2012-13 budget provides for an additional $12.7 million over the next four years to meet the growing demand for emergency care, including, at Canberra Hospital, the completion of capital works to expand and change the physical layout of the ED. Four cardiac assessment beds have been established to provide rapid assessment for the care of people who present to the ED with chest pain and associated cardiac issues. The government has also committed additional funding from the 2013-14 budget to provide for the establishment of a rapid assessment care unit at Calvary Public Hospital, in my electorate, with eight beds, and an additional 44 beds overall for the ACT public health system.
In March 2013 the government tabled its emergency access plan for 2013-17, which details actions to be implemented over the next four years to improve waiting and treatment times within our public hospital emergency departments. Some of the initiatives to be undertaken over the next four years include adding an additional 170 beds to the hospital system; employing new doctors and nurses within our emergency departments; improving the focus on improved and coordinated discharges to enable patients to leave the hospital in the most efficient manner with all their discharge needs catered for; and ensuring that both public hospitals continue to plan effectively for seasonal change in demand patterns such as the annual establishment of a winter strategy which provides changes in the way hospitals operate during peak periods and how hospitals and community services can work better in high-demand periods.
I oppose Mr Hanson’s amendment.
Question put:
That the amendment be agreed to.
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