Page 1736 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 4 June 2014
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MS GALLAGHER: I thank Ms Berry for the supplementary. As members would know, the federal budget has reduced commonwealth funding to the ACT for health services in the order of $240 million over the forward estimates, and $40 million of this in the next financial year is directly attributable to the removal of the funding guarantee under the national health reform agreement, which will kick in from 1 July 2014. The Abbott government has walked away from key commitments contained in the health reform agreement, which was signed in good faith in 2011 and which included commitments for funding guarantees, indexation and payment for interstate patients treated in our hospitals.
There has also been a number of national partnerships which have been cut, and I note that the Queensland government yesterday in handing down its budget also identified these as pressures on its budget when looking to fund the health system.
Our immediate response in this budget has been to maintain and stay on the path we were on prior to these cuts being delivered. We did not change our initiatives in health because of these cuts, but they will require us to consider how we meet these funding reductions into the future. Whether that be met through the health system or other parts of the budget remains to be seen, and the cabinet will have to consider that over the next 12 months. But we will have to also look at the level of service we provide through the ACT health system, because if there are services that do not stack up in an activity-based funding environment, we will have to reconsider those services.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Gentleman.
MR GENTLEMAN: Minister, how many jobs will this budget deliver across the health system?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank Mr Gentleman for the question. I remember during the election campaign in 2012 we were asked a lot about jobs and job reductions and what would be the size of the ACT public service overall. The commitment this government gave was that we would maintain public sector employment levels, and you can see that reflected in the decisions outlined in the budget tabled yesterday.
The budget continues to provide for an increased workforce of 154 full-time equivalent positions; 129 of these positions are related to new initiatives in the budget, including 10.3 medical officers, 77.5 nurses, 25.3 health professionals and 16 administrative positions. This does not include the health positions that would be added to the Calvary Public Hospital as a result of the initiatives included in the budget, because they will make their decisions about staffing according to the contract.
The budget also increased staff across the health system, including staff to support increased services at the walk-in centres at Belconnen and Tuggeranong community health centres, additional health professionals, nurses, medical and support staff to operate the Canberra Region Cancer Service, increased staffing for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, additional community nursing staff, additional emergency department physicians, health professionals to expand the lymphoedema services and, of course, staffing for the additional inpatient beds.
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