Page 3058 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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problems, but Katy Gallagher’s concern is smoking. I think that is quite remarkable and goes against this government’s priorities and Katy Gallagher’s priorities.
I think that the opposition now has been able to shift this government’s focus towards the waiting lists. I think Katy Gallagher now understands that elective surgery waiting lists are important and emergency department waiting times are important, and I am glad to see that she has done that. I think we were able to turn the conversation somewhat towards GPs, with the Legislative Assembly’s inquiry and the resulting taskforce, but it is now a matter of whether she can deliver. Based on the evidence that we are seeing from this budget, she has failed.
At approximately 6 pm, in accordance with standing order 34, the debate was interrupted. The motion for the adjournment of the Assembly having been put and negatived, the debate was resumed.
Sitting suspended from 5.57 to 7.30 pm.
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (7.30): While the Greens support the general tenure of the health budget, we do have concerns about the continuing proportion of funding on acute, over-preventative and primary healthcare services and the lack of emphasis on health equity. Just last week the New South Wales Bureau of Health Information released a report entitled Chronic disease care: a piece of the picture. The report found that serious chronic heart and lung conditions were responsible for nearly 30,000 potentially avoidable admissions and 170,000 bed days in New South Wales public hospitals last year.
The admissions could have been avoided through disease prevention or, after someone had developed the disease, preventing its escalation to a point where they needed to be hospitalised. The report also found that people living in the most disadvantaged socioeconomic groups were more likely to be admitted to hospital for such illnesses. In this year’s budget the government has dedicated the majority of growth funds towards tertiary health care, with $8 million for intensive care, $17.5million for acute services and $10.5 million for surgical services.
The Greens do not wish to imply that extra funds and acute services are not needed, as we know that more is always needed when it comes to health and the demand is almost infinite. It is for this very reason that a move to increase investment in preventative health measures is essential. The Greens are concerned that we are not seeing this shift through an increased investment in preventative and primary health care.
Rehabilitation, aged and community care, for example, received $4 million in growth funds, and chronic disease management received $3 million. The ACT is increasingly seeing diseases related to issues of diet and inactivity, such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes, accounting for significant parts of the burden of disease and healthcare expenditure. Last December the ACT Health Council expressed concern that if more was not done to reverse the trends on obesity, particularly in younger people, the ACT was likely to see a decrease in life expectancies. This is a major warning signal that more must be done at the preventative end of the health spectrum.
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