Page 4692 - Week 15 - Wednesday, 7 December 1994
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That, of course, is why last week I reported the quarterly report, and why the Opposition has not asked a single question since the tabling of the quarterly report. I think it would be a world record that, in this Assembly a health quarterly report has been on the table now for four question times and the Opposition have not asked a single question on health - and nor would they. I continue to quote:
The waiting lists are still affected by the VMO dispute which occurred 12 months ago. At the end of November 1993 there were 3522 on the list. By January 1994 this had increased to 4348 - - -
Mr Moore: Madam Speaker, I draw your attention to standing order 118. I accept that Mr Connolly is directing his answer to the subject matter; but conciseness is also part of it, because he does have the opportunity to make ministerial statements.
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you for bringing that to my attention, Mr Moore. Continue, Mr Connolly.
MR CONNOLLY: This is an answer to an allegation made outside this place that I had misled this place, and that is a very serious allegation. I will continue, concisely:
By January 1994 this had increased to 4348, a raw increase of 826 people. It will be sometime before the enormous loss of productivity as a result of the dispute is made up.
Mrs Carnell has made some further statements about end-of-October data.
Her statement that the average length of stay has increased in October needs to be seen in the light of overall trends rather than fluctuations in individual months. The preliminary end-of-month figure for November, which is only available for WVH, indicates that the average length of stay has decreased from 4.22 in October ...
That was a one-hundredth increase over the September quarter. Shock, horror! It has gone to 4.02. So, again, we have these monthly blips, which really are statistically insignificant when we look at quarterly trends. Mrs Carnell, what I said about the quarterly trends last week was correct. Mr Fraser says:
With regard to activity levels, I am confident that activity across the system is within an acceptable range to ensure that the annual activity targets are met. Again, any conclusions about the projected activity level needs to take into account trends and seasonal factors. The VMO dispute unusually distorted last year's activity, so that by the end of November 1994, WVH is 10% above where it was at the end of November 1993.
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