Page 2881 - Week 08 - Thursday, 17 August 2017
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Hospital has well-established emergency management protocols and procedures in place, with the safety of patients, staff and visitors as its number one priority. Robust emergency management protocols provide an extra level of risk mitigation and we are confident that there has been no compromise to patient and staff safety. Our facilities comply with modern Australian building standards and emergency management standards, and are fully fitted with sprinkler systems.
The ACT Emergency Services Agency visited the Centenary hospital on 10 August to review current safety and emergency protocols and have assured ACT Health that they are fully satisfied with all precautionary measures currently in place. I can advise the Assembly that staff at Canberra Hospital and the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children have been briefed on this matter and will continue to remain updated as the matter is progressed. Information has been placed on the ACT Health website to ensure patients and staff continue to have access to up-to-date information and an understanding of the risk mitigation activities in place.
I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that, in addition to these recent findings at the Centenary hospital, ACT Health has thoroughly investigated any other potential impacts across ACT Health facilities. Any potential risks will be fully investigated, with appropriate mitigations in place and remediation works where they are necessary. The Canberra Hospital and ACT Health are focused on remediating this issue and getting on with what they do best—providing safe and efficient health services to the Canberra community. I present the following paper:
Centenary Hospital—Ministerial statement, 17 August 2017.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (10.49): I would like to comment briefly on the minister’s statement, mainly to comment on the lack of information that is provided. I heard the minister on radio this morning and she did forecast that she would be able to provide more information in her statement. I was certainly hoping to find that. But there are no timetables in this statement as to when the remediation on the women’s and children’s hospital will be needed.
On radio this morning, the interviewer asked the minister on a number of occasions when this work would be commenced and when it would be concluded, and in response she eventually said that this would be revealed in her statement today. It has not been. The people of the ACT need some assurance from this minister about when this process will be taking place. On page 5 of her statement the minister outlined a range of quite considerable variables which give no certainty to the patients in the women’s and children’s hospital and the staff and visitors to the hospital about when this building will be made safe.
In a lot of what both Mr Gentleman and Ms Fitzharris have said, they tried to play down the issue. I think we should be concerned about the extent to which members
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