Page 1407 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 1 May 1990
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Mr Moore: Yes, Mr Speaker, I make an unqualified withdrawal.
RESEARCH AT THE ROYAL CANBERRA AND WODEN VALLEY HOSPITALS AND THE POTENTIAL FOR A UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
Ministerial Statement and Papers
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts), by leave: Mr Speaker, today I would like to take the opportunity to table the recently completed review, entitled "Research at the Royal Canberra and Woden Valley Hospitals and the Potential for a University Hospital". It has a rather longwinded title, but nonetheless it is a very significant report. The review was conducted by Professor Gus Fraenkel, foundation dean of the Flinders Medical School, Adelaide; Professor Colin Johnston, chairman of medicine, University of Melbourne; and Dr Brendon Kearney, whose name is well known to us here, I am sure, who is the administrator, Royal Adelaide Hospital, and author of the Independent Review of ACT Health Services of November 1988, known as the Kearney report.
In August of last year the Royal Canberra and Woden Valley Hospitals Interim Board of Directors invited Professor Fraenkel to conduct a small study with the following terms of reference: to review the state of research in the Woden Valley and Royal Canberra Hospitals; to develop proposals for strengthening the research infrastructure; and to develop proposals for a university hospital concept.
Subsequently, Professor Johnston and Dr Kearney were asked to participate in the research review and the development of the university hospital concept, respectively. The report describes the existing situation in Canberra and suggests what is needed to ensure the development of appropriate medical care for the people of the ACT and surrounding area. I am grateful to the Interim Hospitals Board for making the report available, and I recommend it for widespread reading.
One of the most valuable features of the report is its description of the relationship between the issues involved in research and those associated with good health care. In his Independent Review of ACT Health Services of November 1988 Dr Kearney commented:
Like any other community the people of Canberra and its surrounding districts deserve the very best of public health care.
Excellence in medical services is a significant contributing factor, and it implies excellence in patient care, excellence in teaching and excellence in research. These three factors are interrelated. Weakness in any one area creates an overall weakness in the system.
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