Page 2368 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 16 September 1992
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The paper I am tabling today is a discussion paper on which we want community views. The Government is committed to giving all sectors of Canberra's community the opportunity to have their say. The next two months will be given over to consulting with consumers, doctors, professional associations and anyone else who has a view. The Government wants a complaints unit everybody accepts and will work with. Members will note that there will be an advisory council on the unit, and I look forward to having some of our most skilled and experienced community and professional representatives on that council to advise me on how the unit is operating and to act as a link between the unit and key stakeholders. The ACT has generally managed to avoid the large-scale disasters that have occurred in New South Wales, Victoria or Queensland. This is not to minimise the tragedies some individuals have suffered; but, as the number of health facilities increases, so does the risk of such events. This unit will not guarantee perfection, but I submit that it will help.
In conclusion, Madam Speaker, it is important to emphasise that, as I have mentioned earlier, we want to rule out the adversarial nature that some might perceive these sorts of bodies as promoting. It is about conciliation more than anything. It is about ensuring that we have an understanding of the community's attitude to the provision of health services right across the board amongst the providers. It is also most important that an education process is in place to ensure that the community is aware of the difficulties among health providers but at the same time is extremely confident that the body to which they might complain is independent enough to progress an investigation that will bring down a result that is fair - not just to the patient or the consumer, but to all concerned. Ultimately, it is my aim to promote this approach amongst the profession as something that will be advantageous to the provision of health services as a whole. I present the following papers:
Independent Health Complaints Unit -
Discussion paper, dated September 1992.
Ministerial statement, 16 September 1992.
I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the papers.
Debate (on motion by Mrs Carnell) adjourned.
UNPARLIAMENTARY LANGUAGE
MADAM SPEAKER: Members will recall that on Thursday, 10 September 1992, I undertook to review the Hansard concerning statements made by Mr Berry on Wednesday and statements made by Mr Humphries on Thursday. On Wednesday, during the debate on the Drugs of Dependence (Amendment) Bill (No. 2) 1992, Mr Berry stated that "statements like 'free up access to drugs' are clearly lies". A point of order was taken, stating that Mr Berry had accused opposition members of lying. I subsequently ruled that Mr Berry had not said that anyone from the Opposition had lied, and therefore I did not require a withdrawal.
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