Page 3146 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 22 August 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Construction of the Gungahlin facility will start in 2018 and is expected to be completed and opened later that year. It will be connected to the existing community health centre located in the heart of the town centre.
I have had a number of discussions with local GPs and a range of stakeholders about the Gungahlin walk-in centre. Health is hosting, in consultation with the Capital Health Network, consultations and information sharing with the Gungahlin healthcare stakeholder community later this month. In addition to consultation, comprehensive planning, site investigation and analysis have been undertaken to ensure that the new centres will meet, and continue to meet, the needs of the ACT community.
Building on our highly skilled and extensive health workforce in this budget, we are investing $36 million over the next four years to support our nursing workforce. We are seeing nurse navigators being increasingly deployed around Australia to help patients with complex conditions gain better access to the health services needed to improve their health and their everyday lives. Drawing on this best practice, the government will be investing in strengthening our health outreach services through 12 nurse navigators to ensure that patients get the right care at the right time right across our health system.
We are also increasing funding to provide better training and new opportunities for existing staff. I am thrilled that we will be able to expand the number of nursing positions across Canberra over the next four years, including employing more graduate nurses each year, increasing our maternal and child health nursing positions and employing more school nurses. We know that securing and encouraging our future health workforce is important, so in this budget we are also funding nursing and midwifery training and education scholarships.
I am also very pleased, guided by the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agreement, that we will be continuing our work to ensure that our Indigenous communities continue to receive better health care and achieve better health outcomes. We are investing in more culturally specific services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans. Through this budget we will continue to work with our community leaders to build healthier, stronger families by investing in culturally appropriate support and care.
We are very proud to be investing in a new health facility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans, in partnership with the Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service. This new facility will enable Winnunga to provide a wider range of health services by late 2019 that are culturally appropriate as well as providing a safe location for their holistic approach to health care. I look forward to continuing conversations with Winnunga about the development of this exciting new facility.
As well as delivering the adolescent mental health unit through this budget, I look forward to Minister Rattenbury outlining other priorities in the mental health area. We also know the importance of providing local health services for Canberrans in their community when they need them. In this budget, we are pleased to enable the
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video