Page 187 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 26 February 2014
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MS GALLAGHER: They do not. They do not record the worst results of any public hospital system in the country. There are two areas, in relation to the emergency department and, I think, one area of elective surgery, where we fall behind other jurisdictions. And there are some very good reasons for that, particularly in relation to the emergency department.
I just cannot understand why it gives the Liberal Party so much pleasure to go out and talk down our public hospital system and the people who work in it. That is what you are doing. You have swallowed it hook, line and sinker and just started chanting the Liberal mantra. Does it give you a sense of pride to say that our hospitals got an f? I do not even think they did get an f, in the AMA report card I saw. They got three ticks out of six categories. They got the most ticks out of any jurisdiction in the country. I did not see an f anywhere in the document that I read. I do not know whether that is something that you have just added to add a bit of flavour to the talking down that you do of the health system.
We have some particular challenges. If anyone had a rational look at the performance of other small jurisdictions where there are only two hospitals servicing a large population, they would see—and I have taken the time; I have gone around to the major metropolitan hospitals around the country to have a look and guess what?—they perform largely in line with the Canberra Hospital because of the nature of the work they do.
Yes, when you have them forming part of your hospital system and you have a hundred hospitals, your results can look different. But if you go to any major metropolitan hospital in this country, any tertiary teaching hospital doing trauma in this country, you will see that Canberra Hospital is either on par or performs better than any of them. And that is what we should be talking up.
I am very proud to be Health Minister. I am very proud of the work that is done in our hospitals and I am even prouder of the outcomes that are achieved through that hospital system. And all of us should be.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Lawder.
MS LAWDER: Minister, could you then update the Assembly on your plans for improving emergency department waiting times?
MS GALLAGHER: The latest results I have seen in terms of seeing patients on time at Canberra Hospital is that we are about 59 per cent for the year. There is an incredible amount of work going on at both hospitals. Part of it has been the expansion of the emergency departments at Canberra and at Calvary hospitals. This has allowed additional treatment space. It is also about employing more staff. Earlier in the debate on another matter in the Assembly today I spoke of the additional staff that have gone into emergency departments at both hospitals.
It is about increasing our bed capacity within the public hospitals. That is underway, as members would know from the budget appropriation. It is also about changing the
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