Page 2750 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 13 August 2019
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options to expand ophthalmology services; $728,000 to increase the capacity of dermatology services; $1.6 million to increase the capacity of rheumatology services, helping to reduce waiting times as well as providing alternative care pathways to prevent avoidable ED presentations; $4 million to increase staffing for the fracture clinic; $1.9 million to increase staffing for aged-care services to help meet growing demand and maintain the highest standard of patient safety and wellbeing in the rehabilitation, aged and community services division; $771,000 to establish a dedicated multidisciplinary transvaginal mesh service, providing ongoing support and clinical care to women affected; and more than $2 million to deliver a new and simpler model to access maternity services, further boosting our support for expectant mums and families.
Madam Assistant Speaker, we are also building on the investments we have made in recent budgets to increase the healthcare services available for children and young people. The 2019-20 budget includes $1.8 million to provide more support for families of paediatric patients travelling interstate to access specialist health care through the interstate patient travel assistant scheme; $1.3 million to make meningococcal ACWY vaccination a permanent part of the vaccination schedule for the ACT; $2.9 million to expand childhood and gestational diabetes services; and a dedicated investment of $1.2 million to support the implementation of the child safe, child friendly and child aware framework across all ACT hospital and health services in response to the recommendations relating to the health sector from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
This will continue to be an area of focus for the government, with planning for health services that meet the future needs of children and adolescents, with an initial focus on the first 1,000 days and a project on paediatric services and supports for children and families accessing specialist paediatric care. This work will be coordinated across directorates, recognising that young Canberrans and their families engage with many arms of government services delivery during these crucial years.
As I mentioned earlier, the 2019-20 budget invests in keeping people out of hospital, and it does this with initiatives that support community health and aim to take pressure off our front-line hospital services. In addition to funding for walk-in centres, we are investing $2.5 million in a new program to develop better integrated pathways and improve health outcomes for people with complex and ongoing chronic health conditions, which will be co-designed with general practitioners.
We are also expanding health services for older Canberrans, with $1.6 million over four years to support the delivery of the inspired program in all residential aged-care facilities. This program supports residential facility staff to integrate specialist palliative care into their practices and will respond to the growing demand for services that sensitively and respectfully support older Canberrans. It adds to the $9.6 million of the geriatric rapid acute care evaluation—or GRACE—service funded as part of the 2018-19 budget review earlier in the year.
Additionally, the budget provides $1.1 million over four years for the implementation of the ACT’s strategic priorities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health 2019-28. This work will be done in partnership with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
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