Page 1717 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 21 August 2007
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hospital—on top of the normal workload. We saw an additional 46 people who were managed very well. Sixteen of them were eventually admitted to the paediatric ward at the Canberra Hospital. It was a large and complex exercise in terms of managing a highly infectious illness in a large group of people who were away from their parents—these were 11- and 12-year-olds. I really congratulate the staff, particularly the chief health officer and the deputy chief health officer and their teams, but also the hospital staff who managed that situation and saw those children looked after in a very timely and efficient but very caring way. This was all on top of what was already a very busy day in the hospital.
MR SPEAKER: Do you have a supplementary question, Ms MacDonald?
MS MacDONALD: My supplementary question is: Minister, given this increased demand, will you inform the Assembly what will be the government’s priorities in health over the next three years to meet these pressures?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank Ms MacDonald for the question. There is no doubt that this government has made health care a priority. In the last budget of the Liberal government, in 2001-02, the health spending was $480 million—this year’s budget will see that investment nearly double—cutting 114 beds. Let’s keep going about your performance in health.
Mrs Burke: You wanted him back a minute ago.
MR SPEAKER: Order, Mrs Burke!
MS GALLAGHER: This expenditure will go to over $800 million. This money has been targeted into increasing the capacity of the health system, which was so savagely attacked by those opposite—114 beds removed from the health system between 1996 and 2001-02. We have had to replace all of those beds, and we anticipate by the end of 2008-09 the additional funding provided to the government will provide at least 800 hospital beds.
But ensuring our commitment to quality and service does not end there. It is important that we plan for the future, which is why I recently launched access health, a plan that will help guide us in our planning for future demand increase. Access health is the second ACT government health plan.
Mrs Burke: You have that wrong.
MS GALLAGHER: No, Mrs Burke, you get everything wrong.
MR SPEAKER: I warn you, Mrs Burke.
MS GALLAGHER: You can get on the radio and say this is the sixth or seventh plan, but nobody takes it to the next level. Can you name them all, Mrs Burke? There are none. There are two plans: the health action plan, which was done when the Chief Minister was Minister for Health, and now there is the access health plan. This access health plan focuses on six priority areas which have been identified through public consultation and stakeholder feedback. These priority areas—and those opposite are
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