Page 3639 - Week 12 - Thursday, 13 October 1994
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Mr De Domenico makes a couple of points. He talks about the 605 bed number for June 1993. I am told that that 605 was an abnormally high point, which no doubt is why the Opposition likes to seize upon it, and that the average for 1992-93 was, in fact, 584. You have been ranting about the 20 renal dialysis beds. In fact, 10 of them were included and 10 of them were not, although we now get Federal funding for the 10 so we put them in. It did not include the 20 neonatal cots, but the Medicare agreement now regards them as beds - we are funded for them as beds - and we count them as beds, as does New South Wales. We checked last night, and New South Wales regards those as beds.
As for the so-called nursing home beds at Calvary, my departmental advice is that they have always been counted. They have always been regarded as hospital beds. They have always been funded by the ACT as beds. If you wanted to say that they are not beds, that they are nursing home beds, you would also probably have to take issue over some very long-stay patients in the geriatric ward at Woden Valley Hospital, and you would have to go through every hospital in regional and rural New South Wales where, in many small communities, there are very-long-stay patients in small rural hospitals in what could equally be called nursing home beds.
Mrs Carnell: But they are not nursing home - - -
MR CONNOLLY: Mrs Carnell no doubt says, "Well, I will not call them beds". I will tell you who will have big smiles on their faces because of that. Dr Lawrence and Professor Duckett, the new Secretary of the Federal Department of Health, will, because if we say that they are not beds the Federal Government will say, "Thank you, generous ACT; you say that they are not beds, so, for the purposes of the Commonwealth Medicare agreement, we will accept your argument that they are not beds and we will kindly take back the millions of dollars that that means in terms of the Medicare agreement's funding of the ACT hospital system".
Madam Speaker, every statement that I make in relation to bed numbers in this place is based on advice from officials with the Department of Health. I have, for the last three days, tabled those advices. Mrs Carnell and the Liberals continue to want to quibble and to suggest that there is some sort of con going on here. It is all heat and stuff and nonsense. When the tumult and the shouting dies there is really nothing to it. I quoted once before, and I will quote once again - something I am unlikely to do too often - some quite wise words from a Liberal counterpart, Ron Phillips, who constantly says to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly that the number of beds is not a meaningful measure of the effectiveness of the health system; and, as Marie Tehan is wont to say repeatedly to the Victorian Parliament, "We do not treat beds; we treat patients". So Mrs Carnell quibbles. The actual number of beds will vary from day to day; the number of people in them will vary from day to day. Mr De Domenico goes back to paediatric beds. He makes some new claim about the number of beds in paediatrics. Again, on the information - - -
Mr De Domenico: Was I right or wrong? They are your figures, Minister. It is your annual report.
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