Page 1567 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 14 May 2019
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As we move into the next phase of light rail, we do so with clear confidence in both the due diligence associated with the procurement process, the quality of the public-private partnership, and indeed all of those participants who have been a united nations of entities that have come together, with companies from Europe, Asia and Australia all involved in the delivery of the project. It is a great result for Canberrans. We look forward to the election of a federal Labor government on Saturday and being able to work constructively with a federal government that is interested in Canberra and does not just think that this city is a bubble.
Canberra Hospital—emergency department performance
MRS DUNNE: My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. I refer to the most recent AMA report card on hospital performance and a particular graph in that report card that shows that the ACT’s performance in ED access for patients needing urgent access to treatment has fallen. It shows that in 2003-04, nearly 75 per cent of patients were seen on time if they had an urgent need. In 2017-18, only 37 per cent of patients needing treatment were seen on time. Minister, why has the performance of our hospital system in seeing people on time for urgent treatment halved over the past 15 years?
MS FITZHARRIS: Timely access to care is a significant priority—in fact, the greatest priority—for Canberra Health Services. That includes, of course, timely access to the emergency department. Yes, we have seen some of those waiting times not meeting my expectations, but there is significant work underway to address this.
There are, of course, a number of factors. Certainly, federal cuts from 2014 have had an impact that we have seen. The AMA reports that nationally this continues to be an issue. The 2014 federal budget cuts, the AMA says itself, had a significant impact on hospital services, as did the extended freeze on the Medicare payment to GPs.
Mrs Dunne quite freely referenced an AMA report card. We see that the AMA had certain things to say federally about their colleagues and the federal government, including the ongoing impact of cuts from the 2014 budget. That has had a significant impact in hospitals right across the country. State health ministers, be they Labor or Liberal, are united in that fact, that those cuts had a significant impact on timely access to care. The AMA federally has said it; federally, Labor has said it; and right across the country, state and territory health ministers have said it. So that is a significant impact over recent years.
Madam Speaker, a number of other factors contribute to that including that we are seeing people with more complex conditions presenting to our hospitals. That is a matter of significant concern to me and of concern in the community. There are, right across the country, emergency departments now dealing with many people with more complex issues who are presenting to emergency departments. In fact, where we see our most significant growth in emergency department presentations is in categories 1, 2 and 3. (Time expired.)
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