Page 3964 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MS GALLAGHER: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for the question and the opportunity to provide some balance in the campaign he is waging against the Canberra Hospital.
Mr Hanson: Not me; it’s the nurses.
MS GALLAGHER: Thank you; in the campaign that he is waging against the Canberra Hospital.
Mr Hanson: It’s the patients; it’s the staff.
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, Mr Hanson! You asked your question.
MS GALLAGHER: The campaign he is waging is one of completely accepting one side of experiences that often have two or more sides to them and providing no balance or context in his commentary on the health system. And that has an impact. As a leader in this community, he knows very well the role that he is playing in keeping the campaign, for his own political purposes, alive and well.
I accept, and I am quoted in the Canberra Times as saying, that the health system is not perfect. The health system is a human system, and there will be problems. If you look at every other health system anywhere in the country, in any other hospital, you will find similar cases where complaints are brought against the hospital. But—and this is where the balance comes in—you will also find at least as much, if not more, feedback where compliments are given or the experience in the health system is a very positive one. It does not often get the political interest from those opposite, or indeed the coverage from the media, but that is the reality. And that is what the Assembly needs to do for the support of the staff in particular at the Canberra Hospital.
I was just there at lunchtime today, and it was raised with me about the impact of the political interventions and the media coverage only on negative stories—no interest in positive stories. It is hurting the hospital. The staff are feeling it, and they are raising it with me and saying, “What can you do, Katy, to get all the good things that we do in the hospital out and have people accept that there are incredibly talented staff working very hard?” And they do raise your role, Mr Hanson—they do. They see it as very one-sided that the minute you get a complaint, you bring it in here and provide one side of the story—never both sides. The health system have their hands tied behind their back because the Health Records (Privacy and Access) Act means that they cannot discuss the individual circumstances of cases that you bring into this chamber and publicly air.
I can read to you a couple of things that have crossed my desk in the last two months. “I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to all the staff who are looking after me,” a patient on ward 7A said. “In particular, the nursing staff and the social workers who have been so kind and helpful, and to my mother, my father and my two brothers. Please pass this on to all concerned. Canberra Hospital cannot be beaten for services to the Canberra community.”
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video