Page 1362 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 5 April 2011
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I think this will always be an area where the ACT and New South Wales governments have some very robust discussions, regardless of the political colour of the government of the day, in the areas of the cross-border agreement. For example, we are still to finalise payments for several previous financial years. Whilst our data has been exchanged for these years, there are some issues which need to be resolved for this period. A data audit is currently underway to resolve these outstanding issues and it is expected that once that is finished these payments will be able to be finalised.
As part of the national health reforms agreed by the Council of Australian Governments, local hospital networks are being implemented across the country. The ACT Assembly has recently passed legislation providing for a local hospital network for the ACT, which we intend to have established by 1 July 2011. The ACT government plans to implement a single LHN for the ACT, in the first instance confined to our geographic borders. I note what Ms Hunter has said and I share her view that we should move to a regional network in the future. I do not think that was at all possible in the first movements to an LHN structure. Some of the issues are significant and I think the major issues will be the industrial issues of how we work on those issues as they affect staff who work for New South Wales Health and ACT Health, but I do not think those problems are insurmountable.
I think the first step is to make sure that we have good memorandums of understanding in place with the two LHNs that abut the ACT border, which are the southern LHN and the Murrumbidgee LHN as they have been established. Indeed, I have written to the new Minister for Health today outlining some of the key areas that I would like to work with her on, which is a continuation of the work that has just commenced under the previous health minister, Minister Tebbutt, around progressing the work about a joint clinical planning exercise for the region and that the decisions that are taken in Murrumbidgee or Southern LHN, whether it is to expand or contract services, will have an impact on the ACT’s LHN.
That is fairly non-controversial. If we can get agreement to have a joint clinical planning exercise so that everybody knows what services are being planned, what services are being expanded and what services are being ceased, we can better plan our hospital services for residents of the region.
The other area, of course, is Queanbeyan Hospital. I would like to continue to examine the possibility of using that hospital for public elective surgery. Our officials have been in discussions. I think it was getting complicated with the caretaker period and now the change of government, but hopefully those discussions can recommence. When we have got two public hospitals that are working to near capacity and bed occupancy is at levels where we are pleased but we do not want it to go higher, and we have an underutilised hospital just across the border where the infrastructure is fine, we should be able to use it. But these things are not easy and there are views around how we would be able to provide a service and who would provide the service at Queanbeyan. So that is another area that I would really like to have further discussions with the New South Wales minister on, and I have written to her today and hopefully we can have a meeting fairly soon to progress this.
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