Page 2737 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 13 August 2019
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The estimates committee has recommended that the Minister for Health report to the Assembly on the effectiveness of preparation for the flu season. It is important for both the Health Directorate and Canberra Health Services to consider how their response to the flu season could be better in the future and how a response to the flu season should not automatically and axiomatically result in an increase in poor performance by the emergency department. The figures in the next quarterly report and the annual report will undoubtedly be poor as well, regardless of how often this government, whichever minister has responsibility for health, wants to tell the ACT community that we are heading in the right direction and things are getting better. (Second speaking period taken.)
Regardless of how often this government and whichever minister has responsibility for health wants to tell the ACT community that we are heading in the right direction, that things are getting better or that we have a plan, the sad likelihood is that the ACT will continue to have the worst performance in emergency departments in the country.
We have to remember that 18 years ago we had the best emergency department performance in the country. It is this Labor-Greens government that has failed the people of Canberra and it certainly has failed them in the area of health. It has failed in infrastructure maintenance, it has failed to provide sufficient resources and it has failed to foster a respectful, supportive and tolerant workplace culture. In short, the ACT government has failed.
But, worst of all, this Labor-Greens government has failed the people who work in our health system: the hardworking, overworked, under-resourced nurses, doctors, allied health professionals and health support workers right through the organisation, all the way to facilities management. This Labor government trumpets those wonderful people—and they are truly wonderful—but the Labor-Greens government fails to support them.
Why do we have failure after failure of accreditation reviews? Why is much of our professional training accreditation under a cloud? Why have we got our most senior people leaving? Why have we got radiologists who cannot get proper training? Why is there such a toxic work culture for our staff? Why is the adult mental health unit running at over capacity? Why are adolescent health services totally inadequate? Why is the new adolescent mental health facility, which was promised at the last election for 2019, now not scheduled until 2023?
Why are there such yawning gaps in specialist services? Why does a person have to wait five years just to get an initial appointment with a specialist, let alone get on a waiting list for surgery? Why are we not replacing equipment before it breaks down or even catches fire? Why are we not tapping into the resources of the private sector for public health service delivery?
These and many other areas are where this Labor-Greens government is failing the wonderful people who work in our health system. Their rhetoric about our people is just that, rhetoric, because it is not followed up by action or support.
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