Page 3784 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 28 October 2015
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to support connected and coordinated care. The health infrastructure program is about creating new pathways through the health system which are better, smarter and more convenient for our community, by providing the right services for the right people at the right place. And it is working. After we built the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children, we saw a record number of women birthing in our public hospitals.
We also are providing record levels of access to elective surgery. In 2014-15 we provided almost 12,000 procedures. That is a 55 per cent increase since 2002-03, despite only a 17 per cent increase in our city’s population. We are investing more into surgery. We will conduct over 12,000 procedures this year. In real terms, that is over 1,000 elective surgery procedures every month, and that is on top of providing for increasing demand for emergency surgery. We also are providing around 5,000 endoscopy procedures, performed across our public hospitals, with access increasing for this service every year as a result of government investment.
And we are providing alternative treatment options. Our walk-in centres have provided care on 33,000 occasions, compared to just 19,000 in 2013-14. The waiting time for public dental services is down to just four months, when a couple of years ago it was over 12. We are reporting that 99 per cent of women wait fewer than 28 days for a breast screen, up from 71 per cent in 2011-12, due to the reforms and strategic planning undertaken in that area of service delivery.
Our health system has supplied over half a million outpatient occasions of service. These services are provided by busy medical and clinical staff who are also caring for people in the inpatient setting. We are providing a very high quality of service. It is not, of course, remarked by those opposite, but ACT Health attained full accreditation against mandatory national health and quality health service standards in May this year. Not only did we receive full accreditation, but ACT Health received outstanding comments from the surveyors. A team of 10 surveyors assessed the safety and quality of all clinical services within ACT Health against the requirements of the national standards. The review report made specific mention that:
The ACT Health has a strong executive management team whose members provide active guidance and support to ensure compliance with the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards …
The surveyors also commented:
Consumer engagement within ACT Health is extensive, well-established and is demonstrated through comprehensive partnership with consumer representatives through all levels of ACT Health.
ACT Health’s strong culture of accountability was also demonstrated by all staff and was visible throughout the survey process. This was particularly evident through how staff approached risk management. The surveyors observed:
The Staff notification rate—
of risks—
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