Page 4735 - Week 13 - Thursday, 28 November 2019
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Arthritis ACT’s well-intentioned effort to meet growing demand for hydrotherapy in the ACT has created a situation where there is now significant public pressure for the government to circumvent normal budget prioritisation and probity requirements to provide a considerable increase in funding. This is the challenge we are currently working through with Arthritis ACT. We will get there, but the quantum of funds involved necessarily means that appropriate probity considerations must be applied.
Recommendation 3 of the Nous report states that the ACT Health Directorate and Canberra Health Services:
… should quickly select one of the options presented in this report to collect enough data on the users of hydro-therapy services for health maintenance purposes to assess the best alternatives for the individual, outline support the individual may need to access this service and determine whether there are some people who can self-manage their hydrotherapy, without health system support.
The Nous Group report proposed two options for undertaking this assessment. When I last reported to the Assembly, I confirmed that ACT Health was moving ahead with a version of option 2. I listened to what Arthritis ACT said at the community briefing on 7 August 2019: that members had already had clinical assessments undertaken. Rather than duplicate this work, I asked the ACT Health Directorate to focus on mapping the current services provided through existing sessions to build a holistic assessment of need. I would like to thank Arthritis ACT for its active engagement in this work, and for its advice that focusing on the current service offer—rather than an assessment of individual clinical need—would better reflect the wellbeing impact of hydrotherapy sessions.
It will surprise no-one here that it has not been easy to identify alternative services that will provide everything that the Canberra Hospital pool offers current users. That is why we are in this situation in the first place. Again, however, I believe we will get there, not to a perfect solution for everyone, but to a position that is acceptable in the short term.
Recommendation 4 of the report is that “ACT Health Directorate should conduct a study of the costs and benefits and different models for the longer-term establishment of a hydrotherapy facility in the south of Canberra”, noting that “any new facility would need to be considered within the broader budget context for the ACT and progressed in line with the Territory’s process for infrastructure approval. It could also include consideration of a public-private partnership.”
I am pleased to say that an expression of interest market sounding has opened today. The market sounding process is an opportunity for the government to gauge the interest of the market in the provision of a publicly accessible hydrotherapy pool located on the south side of the ACT. This may be by way of the development and operation of a hydrotherapy pool at a new or existing facility, or the expansion of services at a facility with an existing hydrotherapy pool. Responses to the market sounding will be accepted until 14 February 2020. I am looking forward to seeing what ideas and proposals come forward through this process.
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