Page 408 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 18 February 2020
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Canberra Health Services—cost-effectiveness
MRS KIKKERT: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, in a media story of 6 February 2020, you said:
We know there are areas within the ACT public health system that are not as cost-effective as we could expect when compared to other jurisdictions …
Which areas within the ACT public health system are not as cost-effective as they could be?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mrs Kikkert for her question and her interest in the efficiency of Canberra Health Services and our public health system more broadly. For Mrs Kikkert’s interest, there are national reports produced that compare the costs of services between hospitals, both at the jurisdictional level and at a peer-group level. I do not have all of that detailed information in front of me. There is a range of areas where those comparative costs are assessed. I can come back to Mrs Kikkert with some references that will help her out on this.
MRS KIKKERT: Thank you, that would be great. Minister, will you provide an assurance that health staff will not be negatively impacted by your measures to ensure cost-effectiveness
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mrs Kikkert for her question and her concern for ACT Health, Canberra Health Services and Calvary Public Hospital staff. Absolutely; I think I spoke about this last week. Michael De’Ath, the director-general of ACT Health and Bernadette McDonald, CEO of Canberra Health Services, have spent the past 12 months responding to the culture review in response to the many concerns that were raised about culture.
They are really ensuring that they are building an environment of trust, an environment where people feel safe to come forward if they see something wrong but also an environment where people feel supported and encouraged to come forward if they see opportunities for improvement in the efficiency of our system. Now is the time when we are able to work with staff in a collaborative way to identify opportunities to improve the efficiency of our hospital and health systems, and that is exactly what is happening.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, can you assure staff that staff will not have their resources cut? It has been reported, for instance, that community nurses were told not to use post-it notes. Can you also assure the Assembly that short-term contracts will be honoured in the run-up to the end of the financial year?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mrs Dunne for the supplementary. I have no advice to indicate that contracts would not be honoured. If Mrs Dunne has any specific contracts that she is aware of where people have been advised that a contract may not be honoured, I would ask her to raise that with me. I am not aware of any such contracts.
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