Page 3469 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 23 November 2021
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COVID-19 has put the nation’s hospitals under incredible pressure, but we know that, across the country, this pressure existed pre COVID and that this pressure is not easing up now. The government has recognised this challenge, and this budget responds with significant investments focused on expanding the critical public hospital services that we need as we move out of COVID, we hope.
This budget commits $128 million over four years for the expansion of critical public hospital services, including $39 million to increase emergency surgery capacity and post-surgery care, providing more than 1,900 theatre hours over the year for emergency surgery, providing greater certainty for access to emergency surgery, and increasing the bed base by eight to support greater throughput for elective and emergency surgery at Canberra Hospital.
The budget commits $15.3 million for two additional intensive care cots for the neonatal intensive care unit at the Canberra Hospital. The budget commits more than $28 million for the expansion of the intensive care unit at Canberra Hospital by operationalising four additional intensive care beds at Canberra Hospital.
Almost $23 million is committed to expand the capacity of Canberra Hospital’s emergency department—expanding the emergency medical unit, establishing an acute medical unit and increasing the nursing and medical workforce, including the introduction of a medical navigator.
This reflects the work that has been done over the last two years to really understand the challenges that we face at Canberra Hospital. So much work has gone into the timely care strategy, improving flow through the hospital. But we recognise that we also need to make investments in the emergency department itself and in addressing some of those challenges of getting people from the emergency department admitted into the right place in the hospital. That is what the acute medical unit is about.
This budget invests $7 million in delivering 14,800 elective surgeries in 2021-22 and to begin our plan to deliver 60,000 elective surgeries over the next four years. The budget delivers $15.8 million to expand critical hospital services at Calvary Public Hospital in Bruce, including more emergency department capacity and the 24/7 operation of medical imaging services, which I know that the team at Calvary has very much welcomed. The bottom line is that this budget delivers more beds, more doctors, more nurses, more surgeries and more care when it is most needed.
This budget also delivers more alcohol and other drug services in our community. The ACT government continues to prioritise harm minimisation and treating alcohol and drug addiction as a health issue, rather than a justice issue or a criminal issue. We know that COVID-19 has presented immediate challenges for people with alcohol and drug issues, which is why the budget includes $1 million to respond to the immediate pressures caused by our recent lockdown and the specific challenges faced by people who have complex lives, including those who use drugs.
In addition, we are planning for a post-COVID world and the long-term impacts by investing an additional $10 million over four years, including $7.6 million over two
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