Page 3017 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 15 August 2018
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The governance documents and supporting committee structures provided all staff with clarity of roles, responsibilities and lines of reporting. The quality improvement board captured in detail the excellent quality improvement work AMHU staff are undertaking and have achieved.
It was reported that ACT Health has embraced and embedded the principle and intent of standard 3, with significant improvements observed and reported by surveyors. The list goes on. It does go to what has been an outstanding effort by ACT Health. It does not mean that there will not be future challenges. It does not mean that there are not current issues that we are addressing.
I do believe that the findings of the independent accreditation, which were very significant right across the board in ACT Health, can give the community a very high level of confidence in ACT Health. But I—and Minister Rattenbury, I know—will continue to work with ACT Health to ensure that we have high quality training and a positive culture. I really would invite Mrs Dunne to respect the work of ACT Health staff in this regard. (Time expired.)
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety, Minister for Corrections and Minister for Mental Health) (6.04): While the recent report from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists provides a disappointing result for the Canberra Hospital radiology department, it includes a series of recommendations to address these concerns and restore ACT Health’s radiology training accreditation rank to a level A over the coming 12 months. I do not believe the motion before the Assembly represents a proposal that would add value to that process.
It is clear from the college’s interim report that a number of significant issues need to be addressed. We should not shy away from that fact, and the minister has been very clear about that in her remarks this evening. As both the minister for health and I noted in our comments in relation to the recent hospital accreditation process, these reviews provide us with an opportunity to improve. Based on my conversations with ACT Health staff, including the Chief Medical Officer, that is exactly where their focus is now, as it rightly should be. That is why ACT Health has accepted all 16 recommendations in the report and is working to have them all completed within the designated time frames.
We have spoken in this place over recent weeks about the culture in ACT Health, and I note that Mrs Dunne’s motion raises this issue once again. As I have said before, in an organisation with over 7,000 staff, there will inevitably be issues that arise, and we need the right processes in place to deal with those issues sensitively and appropriately. Any allegations of bullying must be taken extremely seriously, in line with ACT Health’s zero tolerance approach to bullying. As part of the public commentary on this issue ACT Health has also acknowledged some issues with personnel in the radiology department, and I understand that changes have been made. Two new directors of training are now in place and recruitment is underway for two new consultants.
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