Page 3044 - Week 08 - Thursday, 16 August 2018
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be intuitive and efficient, allowing consumers, especially new mums and dads, a good experience at this incredibly important time in their lives. Likewise, it should be a system that supports staff and allows them to feel they can raise issues—personal or professional—in a safe and supportive environment. This is the message I want to convey to ACT Health, and one that I will be making clear to our new chief executive officer and director-general.
The recent accreditation process for Canberra Hospital has also made it clear that ACT Health has turned a corner. It is an organisation that is and always has been focused on providing services that are high quality and best practice. This is something all ACT Health employees can be proud of as we continue to deliver high quality health care for our growing community.
I look forward to talking further with the community about the future of public maternity services in the ACT as we continue to develop this new territory-wide approach. I present a copy of the statement:
Centenary Hospital for Women and Children—Future Planning for Public Maternity Services in the ACT—Ministerial statement, 16 August 2018.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (10.44): I welcome this statement by the minister in relation to maternity services. I am pleased that the minister has such a positive approach to this important part of her portfolio. I hope that the minister has not glossed over some of the important issues that arise in this space. The minister started off by addressing the anonymous letter that was written earlier this year, in April, that outlined concerns in the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children. I will concentrate mainly on the Centenary hospital, because it is a large piece of infrastructure, it was very expensive, it is new and there are problems there.
The minister said in her statement that Health investigated all of the issues, but she did not say what conclusions she and ACT Health had come to about the allegations and issues raised in that anonymous letter. She just said that they were investigated. It is a little like the response I had from the interim director-general of Health yesterday about some issues that I had raised. Again I was told that they had been investigated. They simply said that and nothing else. The minister should be saying more about those things. She should be prepared to give credence to concerns that have been raised or to say that she does not believe that those concerns are there. But just to say that they have been investigated and we should be satisfied is not enough.
She did say that forums were held with staff, but it was reported to me that, in those forums that were held with staff after the letter was circulated, staff were actually asked to raise their hand if they had ever felt bullied or harassed in the workplace. I said at the time that I did not believe that was a respectful pathway for dealing with bullying and harassment—having people out themselves in a semi-public forum.
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