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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (27 June) . . Page.. 2026 ..
MR MOORE (continuing):
It took some time to approach the college of surgeons and get the right people nominated, to get them to agree to come and to get a date. They will be doing that in July. So we had already listened to Dr Jeans and we had already responded to his concerns. I am not saying that everything is perfect at the hospital. For heaven's sakes, it is probably the most complex organisation in this town, other than the Department of Defence. It is one of the most complex organisations in this city. Therefore, of course, there will be problems and there will be concerns.
The real issue for a minister in any overview by members of the Assembly is whether action has been taken to deal with issues when we know that something is wrong. The answer is yes. Mr Stanhope reiterates that the hospital is in crisis. No, Mr Stanhope, the hospital is not in crisis. He says that terrible things are happening under this minister. Compare it, Mr Stanhope, with what happened when Mr Wayne Berry was minister and the waiting list grew from 1,700 under his stewardship to something in the order, as I remember the figure, of 4,569 when Labor left office. That is what we consider a disaster.
Under this administration, the waiting lists are coming down and quality assurance is improving. As I mentioned earlier, I have brought in Fiona Tito to make sure that adverse incidents, when they occur, are dealt with in an entirely appropriate way to have constant improvement and constant quality assurance. Additional to that, we have set out to change the processes of management issues in the hospital to ensure appropriate fiscal management, but never at the cost of patient care. I have said that in this Assembly on a number of occasions and I have reiterated it to the board. I have tabled in this Assembly my instructions to the board and I have mentioned on many occasions to the chief executive of the Canberra Hospital that my actions are about patient care and ensuring that we do have appropriate patient care.
Finally, as a side issue, I mentioned that the Nursing Federation itself raised, as I recall, on 2CN that it was going to run candidates for the ACT Assembly. I think that is great. Do not mistake me; I think it is terrific. The more people who run for this Assembly, the better the democratic process. I am actually very enthusiastic about it. But it does also show that there is another agenda there. That is what I alluded to. Are they going to run for the ALP? I do not know. Mr Stanhope seems very uncomfortable about it. I am not quite sure of his reaction.
Mr Kaine: If you get six of the nurses sitting across here, you won't be so sanctimonious.
MR MOORE: If we have six nurses sitting across there, Mr Kaine, it will be clearly at the expense of my seat, so it is not going to worry me at all.
Mr Humphries: Mr Kaine's as well.
MR MOORE
: I am sure that it will be at the expense of your seat, Mr Kaine. We do need to have more women in this Assembly; there is no question about that. Because the majority of nurses are women, one would hope that that would mean more nurses would wind up in this Assembly. I think that would be a very good thing. I must say that I think
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