Page 6104 - Week 14 - Thursday, 9 December 2010
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MR SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Hanson?
MR HANSON: Category 4 is 56.6 per cent in the latest quarterly report.
Mr Hargreaves: Preamble, Mr Speaker, preamble.
MR HANSON: Given that, how can ACT residents presenting to the emergency department with semi-urgent matters—
Mr Seselja interjecting—
MR HANSON: —be confident that they will be attended to in a timely manner?
MS GALLAGHER: I am sorry, I did not hear the question, because Zed was asking a question at the same time, or interjecting.
Mr Seselja: I wasn’t asking a question.
MS GALLAGHER: Mr Seselja was interjecting, so I did not hear his colleague’s question.
MR HANSON: I will ask the question again.
MR SPEAKER: Just one moment, Mr Hanson. Both Mr Seselja but particularly Mr Hargreaves were interjecting, and it is no wonder that the minister did not hear the question. Let us just have some silence, thank you.
Mr Hargreaves: My interjection was about preamble, Mr Speaker.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, order!
MR HANSON: Given that the latest quarterly report shows that the waiting time for category 4 is 56.5 per cent, minister, how can ACT residents presenting to the emergency department with semi-urgent matters be confident that they will be attended to in a timely manner?
MS GALLAGHER: I apologise, I do not have the last quarterly report before me. I have seen figures where category 4 has been up to 60 per cent, but that may be over a week.
Mr Hanson: It’s 56.5.
MS GALLAGHER: And I accept that. I accept that you are telling me the truth on that. In terms of Canberrans’ access to care, I can assure them that the most urgent will be seen and, from there, depending on the category and the nature of someone’s illness, there may be waits in order to be seen. That is a day-by-day thing depending on the clinical load that presents to the emergency department. For example, on the day where over 200 people presented at Canberra and 200 people presented at Calvary—something that had never been seen before—almost 500 people on a
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