Page 3001 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
peak period of demand, but only stable patients who meet clinically appropriate criteria are diverted. The Ambulance Service would never bypass a hospital during a life-threatening emergency. Paediatric patients, those with life-threatening emergencies and trauma patients would always be taken to Canberra Hospital.
It is a good opportunity to remind the community, and Canberra Health Services has sought to do so, to attend emergency departments only in a genuine emergency. (Time expired.)
MR HANSON: Minister, what risks will patients face from being turned away from the emergency department at Canberra Hospital?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: As I have already said, only stable patients who meet clinically appropriate criteria are diverted. The Ambulance Service would never bypass a hospital during a life-threatening emergency. Paediatric patients, those with life-threatening emergencies and trauma patients will always be taken directly to the Canberra Hospital.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, is this the first time that the hospital has been on bypass? Has it happened before? If so, when and how often?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I will have to take that question on notice.
Centenary Hospital for Women and Children—child and adolescent mental health unit
MRS DUNNE: My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. Minister, on 15 November 2017, you told the Standing Committee on Health, Ageing and Community Services that the expanded Centenary Hospital for Women and Children, including a dedicated child and adolescent mental health unit, would be operational by early 2020. Around seven months later on 27 June 2018, you signed the answer to a question taken at estimates on notice advising that the Centenary hospital expansion was forecast to be completed by the financial year 2021-22. Minister, a further 14 months on, can you give the Assembly the latest update on when the dedicated child and adolescent mental health unit within the Centenary hospital will be fully operational?
MR RATTENBURY: As Mrs Dunne has highlighted, there has been a revision of the date. Those earlier answers I gave were based on the advice given to me by ACT Health at the time. As both the current Minister for Health and the previous minister for health have outlined, there has been substantial work done on the design of that facility, including engagement with clinicians. Particularly in the mental health space, that has resulted in ongoing discussions about the best way to design that facility and also what the right model of care is.
Personally, I think that has been a good process. That additional discussion has ensured that we are getting a facility that will meet the needs of our prospective patients. In terms of Mrs Dunne’s very specific question, given her penchant for
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video