Page 2861 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 14 August 2019
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As Mrs Dunne noted, I did apologise to those in attendance at last Wednesday’s briefing for the anxiety that this issue has caused them. And to anyone who is in the gallery today who has an interest in this issue or who may be affected, I apologise for the anxiety caused and acknowledge that, as Mrs Dunne has noted, there has been a lot of talking at cross-purposes. That has created confusion and it has delayed our capacity to find a path forward.
I would like to reiterate my point that we must stop arguing about the facts. We must now try to allay the confusion and anxiety, accept the reality and find a path forward. Mrs Dunne’s own motion has acknowledged the release of the Nous report, and I want to quote from the executive summary of the report. The Nous report found that different user groups within Arthritis ACT and other community groups have different needs in accessing hydrotherapy facilities but with no quantification of the needs of the different subgroups. We have the total numbers of people who are attending Arthritis ACT sessions and sessions provided by other groups, including the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, but the specific needs of those individuals and those groups have not yet been quantified.
The report noted an increase in registrations for hydrotherapy and attendance at hydrotherapy sessions run by Arthritis ACT, requiring a greater number of sessions to be made available. This acknowledges that since the beginning of this debate, even in the last 12 months, as awareness has grown in the community about the benefits of hydrotherapy and the availability of hydrotherapy through Arthritis ACT, the demand for the service has grown. I have acknowledged many times, and I continue to acknowledge today, that part of the reason for that is that hydrotherapy does provide ongoing therapeutic support with physical and psychological benefits for people who are experiencing chronic illness and chronic pain in the community.
This is a very different way of thinking about hydrotherapy from the way that ACT Health clinicians had been thinking about hydrotherapy and the way that hydrotherapy had been considered in the replacement of the Canberra Hospital pool with the pool at the University of Canberra Hospital in that rehabilitation and subacute setting. It is true to say that the Canberra Hospital pool has been replaced as a public hydrotherapy facility, but it is also true to say that what has become very apparent is that there is greater demand in the community for a community-based facility that will support ongoing therapy with mental and physical health benefits for people with chronic illness and chronic pain in the community.
Mrs Dunne: Yes, that is right. That is what we said in May.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: Mrs Dunne can say as many times as she likes that I have not acknowledged this, but the reality is that I have. I did it last week, I did it yesterday and I am doing it again today. And it was acknowledged well and truly in the Nous report.
Mrs Dunne interjecting—
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