Page 2826 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 14 August 2018
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process, policy and finances and not on delivering the best treatment outcomes for patients. Then, to cap it all off, ACT Health lost its director-general in March. It was an unplanned separation.
The ACT Labor-Greens coalition is not up to the task of running our hospitals. While front-line staff do the best job they can, they do so in the face of unrelenting bullying and harassment. They do so despite ageing, unreliable and sometimes dangerous equipment and infrastructure. They do so despite inadequate and overcrowded facilities. They do so despite the process-driven bureaucracy imposed on them from on high. They do so despite the lack of respect for them and the unwillingness to listen to and act on their grievances.
When we have a health system that puts staff as the number one priority, we will likely have a system that truly is delivering the best in quality care to the people of Canberra. But while we have a self-satisfied Labor-Greens coalition government that places glamour and glitz before happiness and health, we will likely never obtain that ideal.
There were a couple of issues the minister touched on in her speech that I think must be addressed. The minister spoke about the very important relationship ACT Health has with the Little Company of Mary, to the extent that more than $200 million a year goes to the Little Company of Mary for the running of Calvary Public Hospital and the palliative care system, including Clare Holland House. I note the minister’s comments in relation to the palliative care system. I also note, as a member of the end of life committee, that I think we will find that much will be said in the near future about palliative care. I think that it is an area where there is a need for improvement.
In relation to the contract for Calvary to run the hospital at Bruce, there are very important issues. It is an odd historical arrangement we have, where, in a sense, the government has a single select tender for the provision of a large proportion of our public hospital services through a private entity. It has been the case since 1975 or thereabouts and it is not a system that we would wish to tamper with too much. But it also means that we have a very difficult process to ensure that the ACT taxpayer is getting value for money.
I do not want to be critical of the process and the reality of our relationship with the Little Company of Mary, who operate Calvary Public Hospital. But I want to put on the record that we have to be wary. When we are effectively running a single select tender, we have to be quite vigilant as to whether we are getting the best value for money from the system and whether Calvary is providing the best service it possibly can.
I talked about bullying and harassment in the ACT hospital system. Calvary is not immune from this. I have not received as many complaints about it—but it is not as large an organisation—as I have in relation to ACT Health. I know that there have been public airings of these issues and I know that the minister has called for a review. I await that review with considerable anticipation.
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