Page 1655 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 1 May 2012

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done, bringing in new ideas, working towards solutions—it is a big black hole of nothingness.

To those who I have been privileged to work with across the health system, I thank you. To all those staff affected by this incident who turn up to work every day and night and continue to care for the community, I acknowledge your effort and the stress that you are under. In particular, I want to reassure the emergency department staff that the government values the work you do, the service you provide to our community. I urge you to hold your heads high through whatever comes and know that the overwhelming majority of Canberrans hold you in the highest regard. I move:

Omit all words after “That this Assembly”, substitute:

“(1) notes:

(a) the Assembly’s concern about alleged manipulation of Emergency Department data at The Canberra Hospital;

(b) the need for the community to have confidence in the data that is being publically reported;

(d) that the Chief Minister has already written to the Auditor-General requesting that she undertake a performance audit of the Health Directorate’s data collection, reporting and integrity systems; and

(e) that the responsible Minister will make a further statement to the Assembly once those investigations are completed; and

(2) calls on the Assembly to offer its support to all of the staff at the Health Directorate who have been affected by this matter and who continue to provide our community with the highest standard of care possible through the provision of 24 hour access to emergency health care.”.

MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (10.40): The Greens are concerned by the misreporting of data at TCH, and the public needs to have trust in these figures. Debating today’s motion, as often happens with censures moved by the Liberals, was not made easy. We did not actually receive a copy of the motion until, I think, 9.54 am today, which goes to the importance they place on negotiating with other parties in this Assembly on matters.

I will just go to the waiting time indicators. It is worth pointing out that people working in the emergency department work in a high pressure area, and there is significant media attention on the targets they are trying to achieve. This is unfortunate, as the waiting time indicators—this is something I have said publicly before—are not the best indicator of patient outcomes, and we would not want to see a situation in which patient outcomes suffer because emergency departments are so focused on achieving the waiting time indicators.

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