Page 373 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 18 February 2020
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The current service funding agreement commits Arthritis ACT to provide a minimum of 614 hydrotherapy sessions per annum. The additional funding will provide a further 13½ hours per week, which is the equivalent of approximately 688 sessions per annum.
A lot of work has been done by Arthritis ACT to look at the sessions being offered at Canberra Hospital to assess demand. Arthritis ACT has stated that it is confident that the new sessions at Aqua Harmony, along with some it is self-funding in Calwell and additional Saturday sessions at the University of Canberra Hospital, will meet the current demand. In order to properly accommodate this transition from the hydrotherapy pool at the Canberra Hospital and to address the recommendations of the Nous report on access to hydrotherapy in the ACT, Arthritis ACT has been funded to employ two appropriately qualified staff for the safe and supervised delivery of hydrotherapy sessions at Aqua Harmony.
I take this opportunity to express my thanks to Ms Davey, both for her commitment to Arthritis ACT’s members and for the incredible amount of work she has put in to find a solution that will work for them. We know this has been a long process, and I recognise that not everyone will be happy with the outcome, but I am pleased that we have been able to find a path forward and provide certainty in relation to short-term arrangements.
In regard to longer term arrangements, the ACT government committed in November to a market sounding process to identify non-government organisations that may be interested in working with the government to facilitate new public hydrotherapy services in Canberra’s south. Expressions of interest closed on 14 February, and the ACT Health Directorate will now review all submissions and its own internal work and will engage with relevant stakeholders, including Arthritis ACT.
The closure of the hydrotherapy pool at the Canberra Hospital is not a decision that has been taken lightly. The government recognises that hydrotherapy is an important therapeutic activity for many people with chronic illness to maintain their mobility, manage their pain and improve their overall wellbeing. We are pleased to be supporting Arthritis ACT to continue to run hydrotherapy sessions in a variety of settings, including in Canberra’s south now and in the future. I present the following paper:
Hydrotherapy in the ACT—Update—Ministerial statement, 18 February 2020.
I move:
That the Assembly take note of the paper.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (10.08): It is with great sadness that we are faced with the inevitability today of this premature closing of the hydrotherapy pool at the Canberra Hospital because, despite the blandishments of this minister, the new facility is not a substitute for the facilities that are available at the Canberra Hospital. Without denigrating the facility at Aqua Harmony, it is not a hydrotherapy pool. It is a warm
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