Page 2396 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 30 July 2019
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were 84 and 86 per cent respectively. In 2012-13 they were 100 and 98 per cent respectively. Minister, why are so many patients who need radiotherapy not starting treatment within the recommended times?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mr Parton for the question. I will take that question on notice.
MR PARTON: Minister, how many patients have had poor clinical outcomes due to the failure of the ACT’s health system to start their treatment on time?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: While rejecting the premise of that question, I will take the detail on notice as to whether any patients have had poor clinical outcomes.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, what is your plan to turn around the poor performance of the government in this vital area of providing timely radiotherapy services to patients in need?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mrs Dunne for the supplementary question. I can assure her that the CEO of Canberra Health Services is absolutely committed—and it is one of her highest priorities alongside culture—to the implementation of the timely care strategy to ensure that Canberrans are getting the right care at the right time in the right place, particularly within the hospital, to reduce demand, to divert patients to the most appropriate service, to maximise capacity and to improve patient flows.
This work is being driven by a very close watching of data across the Canberra Hospital to ensure that we can better utilise the beds that are available to ensure that we understand exactly where blockages are and that we can address those. Issues like getting patients released from hospital earlier, the one before nine strategy, seeing patients out of hospital in a timely way, discharged in a timely way including through the new discharge lounge that has been established to ensure that patients can move into the dispatch lounge a bit earlier than they might have otherwise been able to, freeing up beds. There is a lot of work going on in relation to the timely care strategy and Mrs Dunne is welcome to a full briefing on that if she would like one.
Health—nurse-led walk-in centres
MR PETTERSSON: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, could you update the Assembly on the successes of nurse-led walk-in centres?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mr Pettersson for the question and for his interest in nurse-led walk-in centres.
This month we celebrated the five-year anniversary of the opening of two new nurse-led walk-in centres in Tuggeranong and Belconnen by the ACT Labor government. These two centres evolved from the successful model of the walk-in centre based at the Canberra Hospital, providing community-based, free primary healthcare services where and when people need them. The Tuggeranong and Belconnen walk-in centres treated more than 46,000 patients last financial year. That
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