Page 3684 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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Canberra Hospital—Fetal Medicine Unit accreditation
MS CASTLEY: My question is to the Minister for Health. Minister, on 3 August you confirmed that the Fetal Medicine Unit was in danger of losing its training accreditation on 1 October unless more specialists were hired. It is my understanding that the leader of that unit has also since left. Did the Fetal Medicine Unit lose its training accreditation and what impact has this had for patients using the service?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I will take that question on notice.
MS CASTLEY: Minister, have any other staff left the unit?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I will take that question on notice as well.
MR COCKS: Minister, what do the problems in the Fetal Medicine Unit mean for expecting parents who will need this vital service?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: The expecting parents who need this important service will continue to get this service. In fact, we have just recently opened the Maternity Assessment Unit as well. I know someone who has already used this service who had a concern about their pregnancy, went in there and was supported and had excellent treatment through the Maternity Assessment Unit. There is an ongoing process of improving both those models of care and the physical infrastructure in which they are delivered, through the expansion of the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children.
Schools—environmental sustainability
MR DAVIS: My question is to the Minister for Education. Minister, the Standing Committee on Education and Community Inclusion recently concluded its inquiry into school infrastructure and maintenance. One of the submissions was from the Office of the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment, which commented:
While aspects of the ACT public school system have already embraced elements of sustainability and showcased initiatives, sustainability has not been implemented at a systems-level across the ACT public school system.
What will you do to ensure that sustainability and climate adaptability is implemented in the school system at a systems level?
MS BERRY: We are already doing that work across our schools—improving environmental sustainability. It is something that we are continually addressing across our school system. We have, in the last financial year, reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by over six per cent across our school system. Gas consumption was reduced by nine per cent and water consumption was reduced by 22 per cent. All of this is work that the Education Directorate and ACT government does to ensure that our schools are operating sustainably and are adapting for the change in the climate that we are experiencing now, but also adapting for future changes in the climate with those adjustments. Making sure that we have solar panels across every single one of
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