Page 216 - Week 01 - Thursday, 15 December 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Our strategic focus for this term of government will be to continue to build a contemporary, world-class health infrastructure across the ACT in a sustainable and innovative way to ensure our future healthcare needs are met. We will expand the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children. The expansion will incorporate an adolescent mental health unit, an adolescent gynaecology service, a paediatric high dependency unit and paediatric intensive care beds.
Our most significant investment will be the construction of the Surgical Procedures, Interventional Radiology and Emergency—or SPIRE—Centre. SPIRE will accommodate surgical procedures, interventional radiology, critical care units and an emergency department in one facility. SPIRE will see an expansion of the number of operating theatres from 13 to 20 and will have separate theatres for emergency and elective surgery to allow for elective surgeries to be scheduled with minimal impact on the capacity to perform emergency surgery.
SPIRE will also include two inpatient wards, new critical care and imaging facilities, a high-level coronary care unit, an intensive care unit including for paediatric care, and a new day surgery centre. A new ED will be built next to SPIRE, allowing the existing ED to be dedicated to women and children. We will commence scoping study, forward design and business case preparation for our infrastructure investments early in 2017.
We have a highly skilled and capable health workforce here in Canberra and I would like to take the opportunity to thank the ACT health workforce for their tireless efforts in doing what they do best—providing high quality patient care and excellent health services to the people in our region. Our dedicated doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health and other professionals who keep our health services and hospitals running 24 hours a day, seven days a week are highly valued by this government, and our services would not be what they are without them. We are committed to further investment in our health workforce, through the employment of additional nurses and further training opportunities.
A boost to our nursing workforce numbers will commence in 2017-18 and will involve further training opportunities, with a new nurse practitioner course developed with the University of Canberra and more nurse scholarships. We will see the establishment of the new nursing, allied health and midwifery clinical school at UC. The school will train nurses and allied health professionals with teaching facilities at the Canberra Hospital and the new UCPH. We will also undertake a nurse safety strategy.
The challenges we face in public health care are significant, and we cannot meet them alone. Strong and effective strategic partnerships are critical to successful health service delivery. We need to leverage our enduring relationships and partnerships and we need to build new ones with a range of stakeholders, including the non-government sector, universities and research organisations, consumer and peak bodies as well as other healthcare providers and innovators. The government will focus on forging even stronger partnerships with organisations such as the University of Canberra, Calvary Hospital, Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service and smaller NGOs and peak bodies.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video