Page 1642 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 9 May 2018
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surrounding regions. Health systems need to be able to respond in a clear and decisive way when risks or issues are identified. By separating out policy and operational functions, the new governance structure will provide streamlined and clarified reporting lines so that issues can be responded to in a timely and efficient manner.
Of course, there are a range of issues identified in the accreditation report. While the proposed restructure of ACT Health will not be a solution to all of these issues, it will enable a clearer focus on efficiency and effectiveness for clinical operations and free up capacity within the policy agency to undertake core strategy and big picture system management functions.
I also want to reiterate that improving quality and safety is an ongoing process in the health system. It does not start or end with accreditation. There is significant work underway every day in our hospital, as well as in our various other health services across the city, that is focused on quality and patient safety. This accreditation report provides us with a number of opportunities for improvement, and as Minister for Mental Health, I am strongly committed to improving standards in our mental health services. I believe the Minister for Health and Wellbeing shares this commitment for all of ACT Health.
I also want to speak briefly on the issues Mrs Dunne has raised about the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children. I reiterate what the minister has said, that maternity services delivered at the Canberra Hospital are safe and high quality. However, I do acknowledge that there are staff at the hospital who did not feel that their concerns were being listened or responded to, and this is an area we need to improve.
I know that this is an area that the interim director-general is strongly focused on, and I fully support him in his endeavours in that space. Our staff on the ground are hardworking, dedicated and knowledgeable, and we need to have better systems in place to allow them to raise concerns. This is also true for consumers and carers, who can provide very valuable insights into the operation of our health system. Putting the systems in place to better respond to feedback is important for the ongoing process of quality improvement that I spoke about earlier.
I also want to highlight some of the efforts that are already underway to improve health services at a more systemic level. Minister Fitzharris has spoken previously in this place about the territory-wide health services framework. This systemic reform is important for making sure our services are equipped to respond to the needs of our population over the coming decade.
At the same time, in the mental health space we are working on establishing the office for mental health and wellbeing, which I spoke about yesterday. We are also working with the Capital Health Network to develop a regional mental health plan for the ACT and region. Both of these projects are important for improving coordination and integration of mental health services across the system. What we want is for people to be able to access the right service in the right place at the right time. And with our system becoming increasingly complex, we need to take a strategic approach to make it easier to navigate for consumers and carers. I say often that this is a time in people’s
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