Page 1450 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 9 May 2017
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There was also a significant infrastructure upgrade across ACT Health assets of $90 million in last year’s budget, $23 million of which was to upgrade electrical networks throughout the hospital, notably of course the electrical switchboard. Some of that work got underway. Further work will continue until mid 2018 for one of the buildings and, beyond the main electrical switchboard, for another building till early 2019. If that work had not got underway we would have seen a potentially more serious incident at the Canberra Hospital than the one we had in April, as I also outlined in my statement this morning.
There has been considerable investment in upgrading infrastructure not only at Canberra Hospital but across all ACT Health facilities—in last year’s budget alone, $23 million.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, why hadn’t the switchboard in building 2 at the hospital been replaced between 1973 and 2017?
MS FITZHARRIS: It is being upgraded as we speak; some of the work will be completed in mid-2018 and subsequent to that further work will be undertaken to be completed in early2019.
Mr Coe: Point of order.
MADAM SPEAKER: A point of order, Mr Coe.
Mr Coe: Madam Speaker, with regard to the relevance of the minister’s answer, the question was specifically about why it hadn’t been replaced between 1973 and 2017, as opposed to the work that is now underway.
MADAM SPEAKER: Thank you. Minister, you can continue.
MS FITZHARRIS: I cannot comment on all the work undertaken since 1975, but what I can tell you is that work is underway now to replace that main switchboard.
MRS JONES: Minister, why has the series of faults in the Canberra Hospital electrical system not been fixed until recently?
MS FITZHARRIS: Faults have been fixed as ACT Health has been made aware of them.
Canberra Hospital—electrical systems
MS LEE: Madam Speaker, my question is to the Minister for Health. I refer to the estimates committee Hansard of 29 June 2016, where a senior official from ACT Health said:
The key issues in terms of the extreme and the high risk largely relate to the electrical systems and the main switchboard of the hospital.
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