Page 211 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 28 November 2012
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MS GALLAGHER: Well, these are the facts, Mr Hanson. They do not suit your argument, but they are the facts. Over the last five years there has been a 25 per cent increase in births in the public sector.
Mr Smyth: So you had not noticed that?
MS GALLAGHER: That was not included in the planning of the hospital, Mr Smyth.
Mr Smyth: Why not?
MS GALLAGHER: Because it had remained constant in terms of the private system because the changes that came in to cap private obstetric fees were brought in after the decisions had been taken about bed numbers in the public system. So unless we could have projected forward into our looking glass and seen that private obstetricians were not going to adjust their prices so women are now up to $6,000 out of pocket for having a private birth in Canberra—that is how much it can cost you, because that is how much is charged—
Mr Smyth: But you didn’t notice that shift over the last five years?
MS GALLAGHER: It was not a shift over the last five years, Mr Smyth. It was a shift—
Mr Smyth: Well, you just misled the house. You just said there was a 25 per cent shift over the last five years—
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Order, Mr Smyth!
MS GALLAGHER: It was a shift that occurred gradually and has changed with changes to the private health insurance. That is the change that has happened, and what has happened is that Calvary private are not doing the amount of births that they were doing. John James private is not doing the number of births that they were doing. The number of births in the public system continues to grow, and that is because women are making a choice.
So the landscape has changed. The birth numbers have not changed; the demographics for the women have not changed; what is happening is that the public system is taking an increased burden. So in 2006-07—Mr Smyth might want to listen to this—births in the private sector made up 34 per cent of all births within the territory. This has reduced to 24 per cent in 2011-12, and it is continuing to reduce. That is what we are seeing. Yes, more and more births are coming, and private obstetricians are noticing that because the births are happening in the public system.
On the one hand, it is an incredible compliment for the public system and the standard of care that is being provided at the Centenary hospital and at Calvary public. On the other hand, it is placing immense pressure on the public resourcing of maternity services. So when you look at the change that is being felt in the hospitals, it is about 17 additional births every week that are being delivered through the public system.
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