Page 1964 - Week 06 - Friday, 6 May 2005
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We will improve the interface between hospital, primary care and community-based services by focusing on seamless discharge processes. This is to ensure that the care that is needed after a hospital episode is provided on time and to the level necessary. The ageing of the population and the increase in the level of chronic disease are a reality. This initiative will ensure that we maximise the health outcomes of the broader community. We will also redesign the interface between hospital, community and home and community care support services in a way that provides maximum assistance to those who need it, with the coordination and provision of services managed by those who are experts in it.
In saying all this, I am not preaching a quick fix. It will require concerted effort by ACT Health to manage a complex change and redesign program. It will be undertaken over a two-year period and will involve accessing the best available industry expertise to work with staff and management to overhaul service delivery models. This effort will be monitored through alignment of program and output performance reporting around the core goals of timely access to care based on clinical need. These are now reflected in the budget papers and will be replicated in the accountabilities of senior management.
Finally, the multiplicity of regular performance and activity reports on the ACT public health system that have developed over time will also be overhauled. These, too, will be realigned to ensure that we report more accurately and consistently on the strategic priorities of the system and not waste scarce resources in the production of endless reports, which were products of the past and not reflective of the priorities of the future.
Through this statement today I think members can see the comprehensive and overarching strategy in place to improve access to acute care. This ministerial statement is designed to give members a pointer to the way forward, to the government’s directions and to our priorities to ensure that those who need care get it in a timely way. There are no quick fixes. There are no easy answers. There are no simplistic assertions as to how it will make it better. But there is a comprehensive program to improve overall the way people in Canberra get access to their health care.
Indigenous education
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Children, Youth and Family Support, Minister for Women and Minister for Industrial Relations): I seek leave to have the statement to accompany the ninth report of performance in indigenous education incorporated into Hansard. It is a speech I did not give yesterday.
Leave granted.
The incorporated document appears at attachment 1 on page 1976.
Papers
Ms Gallagher presented the following paper:
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