Page 2766 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 13 August 2019
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A number of initiatives under the timely care strategy have already been implemented, including daily multidisciplinary staff ward huddles, hospital-wide flow management meetings, strategies to reduce barriers to discharge and identifying and discharging appropriate patients before 9 am. All these things are aimed at reducing bed block, ensuring that we can get patients flowing through the hospital and discharged in an appropriate manner because it is not, of course, appropriate for people to be in hospital longer than they need to be, and we also need to be focused on ensuring that we are using our hospital facility as efficiently as we can be.
MRS KIKKERT: Minister, what have emergency department staff asked for to improve waiting times?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: Emergency department staff, I am sure, have welcomed the increased investment in emergency staffing—that includes an increase in doctors in the emergency department—and the implementation of the winter strategy, the opening of an additional 16 winter beds at the Canberra Hospital and the all-care discharge unit, which both commenced from 11 July. An additional 12 beds have been progressively opened at the University of Canberra Hospital since June 2019 to provide additional capacity into the system.
I am sure that those working at the emergency department at the Canberra Hospital have welcomed those initiatives as well as the timely care strategy initiatives that I have previously outlined.
Mr Coe: Point of order.
MADAM SPEAKER: Point of order, Mr Coe.
Mr Coe: On relevance, the question that Mrs Kikkert asked was about what emergency department staff have asked for. The minister has said that she imagines they are happy with additional doctors and additional resources, but if she does not actually know what the emergency department staff want, perhaps she could just say so.
MADAM SPEAKER: I believe that the minister was responding appropriately to the question. Do you have something to add, minister?
MRS DUNNE: Minister, what was the performance of the Canberra Hospital emergency department regarding patients in the urgent category, category 1, for 2018-19?
MADAM SPEAKER: Can you repeat the question?
MRS DUNNE: I am happy to repeat it, Madam Speaker. Minister, what was the performance of the Canberra Hospital emergency department regarding patients in the urgent category, category 1, for 2018-19?
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