Page 3053 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 23 September 2014
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gets no assistance or very little assistance from this government. Hence we have got the cost per visit the most expensive in the nation.
The ACT has a poor record in hospital-acquired infections. Again, as Dr Hall said, when you have got overcrowded hospitals, you get lesser health care. The obvious example of that is acquired infections. What about the emergency department? It is not because of the staff; the staff do a great job. I have been there when my little fellow was small. Many of us here have had kids, I am sure, who have gone down to the hospital at the appropriate time and found that a staffer comes out and apologises because your child has been crying for some hours because they cannot see a doctor. We all knew it was croup, but you could not get in; you could not get in until it was your turn. Then the staff come to you and apologise, saying, “We are really sorry; as soon as we get a doctor clear we will get them onto you and the other babies that are crying in the waiting room.” Then you know something is wrong. The ED has the worst waiting time target in the country. For patients departing within four hours the figure is 54 per cent, one of the worst rates in the country. That is not something to be proud of.
That is what happens when a government has got wrong priorities in health care. That is what is happening in our hospital system currently, because this government cannot get it right and this minister cannot get it right. It is time for the healthcare priorities to—(Time expired.)
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Health, Minister for Higher Education and Minister for Regional Development) (3.53): I welcome the opportunity to talk about the health system. The speech we have just heard from Mr Smyth indicates exactly why he is not the shadow health spokesperson. It was a speech that clearly showed his ignorance of the broader portfolio and was embarrassing in the sense that he linked a whole range of unrelated, unsubstantiated facts together to paint a picture which is not true of the quality of our health system here in Canberra. As a community leader in this place, to stand in here and generate a campaign that paints the picture of the ACT health system which is not what the ACT health system delivers is irresponsible. It is absolutely irresponsible for a community leader to say what you just said, Mr Smyth.
Mr Smyth interjecting—
MS GALLAGHER: You take no responsibility for it. You think you can just come in here and use the words “crisis”, “unsafe”, and all the rest of it, and then put that together with bulk-billing and infection rates. To try and link all of that is just irresponsible. And it goes exactly to the issue of staff. You cannot paint that picture. They said, “Oh, it’s nothing to do with the staff. It’s all to do with Katy Gallagher.”
Mr Hanson interjecting—
Mr Rattenbury: On a point of order, Madam Assistant Speaker, Mr Smyth was heard in silence. Ms Gallagher has been hectored almost since she stood up.
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