Page 1656 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 13 May 2015
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And this is the point: 200 beds, plus all those services. What the government have done now is cut it to 140 beds and, in relation to all those extra services that were always going to be there, they are now trying to say, “They are actually hospital beds. Trust us; they are beds.” No-one believes this. No-one is buying this for a minute: “The experts are looking at it. The people are being consulted. The Little Company of Mary was written to.” The chair wrote and said that they had been advised that there would be a 200-bed subacute hospital somewhere in the city.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation have written to the Deputy Director-General of Health Infrastructure and Planning, Mr Paul Carmody. This is from a letter from Jenny Miragaya, who is the secretary of the nurses union:
… there appears to have been a significant departure from the original April 2011 proposal …
A significant departure. The letter also states:
The ANMF is very concerned—
is very concerned—
that it would now appear that, rather than an additional 200 sub acute in-patient bed spaces being made available, only 140 beds will be delivered, and that, far from being additional to existing in-patient beds, they will simply provide a re-configuration of existing services … The ANMF therefore seeks urgent clarification …
And so on. So this is not just some political line being run out by the Canberra Liberals for political expediency. This is in black and white from the government’s own document and this is the nurses, in a letter, saying, “This is what we were told: 200 beds. And now the government is delivering 140.” That is in black and white because that is in the contract.
But those opposite will say anything, won’t they, to cover their tracks, and that is so disappointing. I have got numerous examples of where the government has said it will be 200 beds, as I said. I want to take the opportunity to canvass a few so that it is clear to the media that this is not just an expression of a view. This is not a case of there being different views about this. This is an expression of fact. I asked Ms Gallagher in a committee of the Assembly:
And that is still in the ballpark of 200 beds?
Ms Gallagher replied:
Yes.
In an answer to a question on notice she said that we are building “a facility that can take up to 200 beds”.
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