Page 1344 - Week 04 - Thursday, 30 March 2017
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Minister, why does the government not know where emergency department patients come from; what data is collected at the time of presentation; and can reports easily be generated?
MS FITZHARRIS: I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. As I indicated in the debate yesterday, it is probably more precise to say that I did not currently know, because I had not yet sought that specific information.
In relation to what I was attempting to convey in the debate, and what I conveyed also to Mr Doszpot in our conversations around yesterday’s motion, he was specifically seeking to make a link between TCCS, which is responsible for dog incidents within the borders of the ACT, and presentations to ACT emergency departments. I was seeking to explain to him that there could not be drawn a direct correlation between residents of the ACT and presentations to ACT emergency departments because, as we know, 25 per cent of activity in ACT hospitals is from outside the ACT borders.
Certainly, as to the information specifically relating to that, I will take that on notice and provide further information. There is a range of different ways that you could seek to further analyse the data coming through emergency departments. Where every individual who presents to an emergency department lives and where the incident took place could of course be extracted from emergency department data. If the opposition would like me to do that, I will take that question on notice.
MR COE: Firstly, yes, we would appreciate that; thank you. Minister, can reports easily be generated with multiple variables such as residence and reason for the presentation or do those kinds of reports have to be manually collated or compiled?
MS FITZHARRIS: I believe that they can be generated. They certainly do not have to be manually done, but you could ask any variety of questions around a very rich source of data, which is around presentations to emergency departments.
MR DOSZPOT: My supplementary is: minister, don’t you need to know where patients come from under cross-border health arrangements?
MS FITZHARRIS: Yes, of course we do. And of course we do know that, as I indicated in my previous answer. As I also indicated yesterday, that particular extraction has not been done because, as I indicated in my previous answer, you could ask a variety of questions—and many people within the health system will ask a variety of questions—the answers to which could be gained by interrogating the health data.
Animals—dangerous dogs
MR DOSZPOT: My question is to the Minister for Transport and City Services. Minister, where in the 46 pages of the animal welfare and management strategy that you released yesterday is there mention of dangerous dogs?
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