Page 1530 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 8 May 2018
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ACT Health. Quite frankly, this Assembly owes it to the doctors, nurses, midwives, patients and staff at the hospital to get a minister who is going to do a good job. The failures are having a devastating impact on the health and lives of Canberrans. Of course, there are particularly severe consequences when problems arise in the health system. But the minister continually dismisses and downplays issues whenever anybody, including health professionals, raises concerns.
The blame for these issues does not fall on public servants; it should not fall on doctors, nurses or midwives; it should not fall on health providers. The buck must stop with the minister. Our health professionals should be praised for their commitment to patient care, despite the minister’s lack of leadership, commitment and serial mismanagement.
As the motion demonstrates, the minister has failed on many fronts. It seems that every day there is a new story in the media about how lives are being put at risk as a result of a lack of leadership and incompetence. Doctors, nurses, midwives, patients and staff are being let down by this government and they are being let down by this minister. These people all have a commitment to Canberra. The staff at the hospital are in the business of saving lives, but they are not empowered to do so to their capacity. Especially given the misallocation of resources and the trying circumstances in which they have to operate, they are doing an exceptional job at doing what they do best: delivering health care.
I did not think I would ever say this in the Assembly, but I think we would all prefer that Katy Gallagher was back as the minister for health. Despite all the problems back then, at least she was competent, at least she was across her brief, and at least she answered questions. That is a stark difference to what we have today with Minister Fitzharris.
The AMA’s 2018 public hospital report card showed that only 50 per cent of triage category 3 emergency department patients in ACT public hospitals were seen within the recommended waiting time in 2016-17. Only 50 per cent within the recommended waiting time! This recommended waiting time is not just an arbitrary figure; it is not just plucked as a random number. It is a number that has been chosen by clinicians as the safe level. When you have only 50 per cent of people being seen within that designated time, it shows there are real problems with this government’s management.
On the Canberra Hospital’s triage scale, category 3 is reserved for patients identified as requiring urgent medical attention. Yet only half the people actually received that urgent medical attention within the recommended time. This is a bad reflection on Australia, it is a bad reflection on the national capital, and it is a terrible reflection on the minister for health. Figures obtained by the ABC under FOI revealed that only 34 per cent of category 3 patients were seen on time in the year to February 2018. In February, only 23 per cent of patients in this category were seen on time. Nationally, 66 per cent of category 3 patients are seen on time.
In 2001 the Labor Party inherited healthy public hospitals that performed well, but successive Labor governments have failed to deliver reliable health services. The
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