Page 3527 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 September 2019
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ACT public health services in recent years. Adding it all up, the government has invested more than $1 billion in health infrastructure in the last decade. This has seen investment at Canberra Hospital, Calvary hospital and in the community, and has included new fit-for-purpose facilities as well as significant upgrades to existing assets.
At Canberra Hospital this has included the construction of the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children, the adult acute mental health facility, Dhulwa secure mental health facility—which is not at Canberra Hospital; it should be Canberra Health Services—the construction and opening of the University of Canberra Hospital, a new Canberra region cancer centre, and the expansion of Canberra Hospital emergency department.
In addition, there is ongoing investment in new and upgraded community health centres in Belconnen, Tuggeranong and Gungahlin. In recent years, as I have mentioned, we have also added to our network of walk-in centres, with new centres in Gungahlin, Weston Creek and the inner north last year, this year and next year. We are delivering on our commitment to a new health facility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans, with $12 million in funding being provided to Winnunga to deliver that. I was very pleased to be at the ground-breaking on that.
We have also invested in Calvary Public Hospital, with new ICU and coronary care units; ongoing investment to expand the emergency department which will deliver a 20 per cent increase in emergency places by next winter; and, with SPIRE, we will deliver a more than 50 per cent increase in the total number of emergency department places across the system within five years. That is an enormous expansion in emergency capacity.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong—Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability, Minister for Corrections and Justice Health, Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety and Minister for Mental Health) (11.48): I begin by acknowledging the outstanding work of our Canberra Health Services staff and the high quality service they provide to the Canberra community. We often make that reflection, but it is worth stating again because they work tirelessly in extremely pressured environments to provide the health services Canberrans need. The Greens, with Labor, are committed to ongoing investment and upgrades so that we can continue to deliver on the government’s health priorities and support staff in delivering services.
I intend to outline the investments we are making in mental health services in particular which are part of the overall strategy for improvement of and upgrade to Canberra Health Services. As Mrs Dunne has raised in her motion, wait times at the Canberra Hospital are often longer than four hours. This is an area about which I am in consistent conversation with the CEO of Canberra Health Services to see where we can improve the flow of patients presenting for mental health concerns in particular and to identify how they can most appropriately be assessed and then placed for care if needed. Oftentimes the adult mental health unit is not the most appropriate place for people with mental health concerns, and the assessment team at the hospital will establish what care will be most suited to the individual.
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