Page 1638 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 9 May 2018
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Regarding the separation of ACT Health, I propose providing the Assembly with an update in October on the separation of ACT Health into two organisations and the consultation with key staff and stakeholders that has occurred in the lead-up to this.
As I mentioned yesterday, I was privileged to speak with a number of ACT Health staff last week at forums at Canberra Hospital and at ACT Health headquarters in Woden. I outlined yesterday the discussions that I had with them and my acknowledgement that the governance of ACT Health had let them down in recent times. Some of these issues were certainly reflected in the accreditation survey and confirmed a range of feedback and views I had formed throughout my first year in the role.
As I said to the Assembly yesterday, I want to ensure the ACT public health system is best positioned to plan for and deliver sustainable, high quality health services to our community. This is why the separation of ACT Health is so important.
Like the rest of the nation, our population is growing. Our population is growing slightly faster than that of most other jurisdictions. In the next 10 years our population is expected to grow by nearly 17 per cent to 470,839 people. In the same time period the number of Canberrans aged over 65 will increase by 15 per cent.
This trend, together with increased rates of chronic disease, changing consumer expectations, advancements in medical technology and the rising costs of delivering high quality health care, presents a number of challenges and some opportunities for the ACT’s health system. To be able to respond to these challenges and opportunities I have outlined how ACT Health will continue to deliver high quality services to our community and the broader south-east New South Wales region.
It is for this reason that in March this year Minister Rattenbury and I did announce a significant structural and systemic change to the governance of ACT Health. One organisation will focus on the operations and delivery of health services. The other will oversee the health system, undertake planning and set strategic policy for the health system. These new structures will enable a clearer focus on operational effectiveness and efficiency, improve accountability and governance, improve access, timeliness and quality of health services, and bring us into line with every other jurisdiction in Australia.
To reinforce what I said yesterday, I expect the transition will be seamless for people accessing our health services. I want to again reassure the Assembly and ACT Health staff that they have the opportunity to be involved in the development of the new structure, and consultation with stakeholders will also take place.
The government has a proud track record of investing in health infrastructure and is committed to continuing this record. As I said yesterday, in last year’s budget we made a significant down payment for better health infrastructure now and into the future with funding for an expanded Centenary hospital, the SPIRE centre, new north side facilities and community health facilities.
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