Page 1428 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 9 May 2017

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supply into subsidiary circuits and are not associated with the main electrical switch board. All upgrade works as part of this project were completed by May 2015 in close consultation with the relevant authorities, including WorkSafe ACT and the building regulator.

Prior to the upgrading and maintaining ACT Health assets appropriation in this year’s budget, the ACT government has invested over $900 million in health infrastructure facilities for the benefit of the community. Whilst much of this investment is in new facilities, ACT Health has maintained a continuous focus on building upgrades across its property portfolio to ensure compliance and optimised life cycle through investment in capital maintenance and upgrades.

The injection of funding through the upgrading and maintaining ACT Health assets program of work ensures that critical pieces of infrastructure are replaced in a timely manner whilst adhering to best practice strategic asset management and alignment to the clinical services plan.

ACT Health has confidence that the emergency management response to the incident was robust and effective. Lessons learnt from this incident have also been captured to improve our emergency management procedures and to improve development of our evolving risk mitigation strategies. Our focus now and always is to ensure that our health facilities are available to the public to deliver the standard of care expected by the community.

I would like to take this opportunity to again thank all ACT Health staff involved in the emergency response. They worked tirelessly to ensure all patients potentially affected by the incident were well cared for and that electrical supply was reinstated without delay. I would also like to thank ACT Fire & Rescue, ACT Ambulance Service, ACT State Emergency Services and ACT government liaison officers who provided support to ACT Health during the incident. We are fortunate in the ACT to have such a dedicated, caring and enthusiastic workforce who can handle these incidents quickly, professionally and with a minimum of disruption. I would also like to thanks the community for their patience and understanding around emergency and follow-up repairs.

Today I have provided a clear outline on the details of this incident. I have outlined the steps that have been taken to upgrade infrastructure at Canberra Hospital. This includes the building 2 electrical main switchboard replacement project, which is underway and will conclude in 2018. I would like to reiterate to members that remediation work undertaken at Canberra Hospital since this incident has restored full pre-incident functionality to the building 2 electrical main switchboard facility.

The 2014-15 budget allocation for Canberra Hospital essential works, infrastructure and engineering project to replace or prepare essential infrastructure to support health infrastructure program electrical works related specifically to compliance and safety upgrades to electrical distribution boards only and not to the main switchboard. Patient safety is our absolute priority, and Canberrans can continue to have confidence in the health care and services provided by Canberra Hospital to so many in our community.


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