Mr NATT - 2006-05-03
Yesterday, the minister informed the Assembly how the Martin Labor government was meeting the extra demands on Royal Darwin Hospital with increased funding and more beds. Can the minister please advise the Assembly how we are building healthier communities in Central Australia by addressing the increased demand on the Alice Springs Hospital?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a good question and it gives me a chance to move the spotlight from the Royal Darwin Hospital. After two visits to Royal Darwin Hospital yesterday and today, there is absolute delight from the staff at the initiatives we have offered that hospital in response to their No 1 priority that they put to us, particularly the senior clinicians and the critical care nurses, to have permanent solutions in place to the issues of bed block and access to the general hospital capacity.
Moving to Alice Springs, immediate extra funding is going into that hospital, taking the total annual budget up to $97m, which is a $7m increase over the current budgeted amount. That will allow the hospital to immediately deal with the high demand levels going into ED, with the use of such things as overflow beds, to adjust their staffing in response to spikes of demand that come through the front door of the hospital. We are also beginning work immediately to deliver on our promise of the 24 beds to Alice Springs. We are preparing space for 15 beds to go into that hospital as soon as the capital works can be carried out in conjunction with the repair work that is being done on the main hospital buildings in Alice Springs - repair work that has been necessary because of a totally botched process that left us with a building that was not compliant with national standards of safety or functionality for a hospital.
We have worked through that shameful situation. We are now linking the provision of these additional beds to the hospital as soon as possible to get them into the areas being prepared in Ward 4. The planning and design of the upgrade of the Emergency Department will begin immediately to get a full work plan together so that the government can address that need. That work will also have to be linked to the general work going on in the building which ED shares with all the other working wards of the department. Work will begin immediately to get the designs together so that we can then address them as a government.
We are introducing support to other areas of that hospital: rehabilitation services will be improved by the employment of two extra allied health positions; free neonatal hearing tests will be introduced through that hospital for all newborn babies; a Hospital in the Home service will be developed and trialled in Alice Springs for the first time, duplicating the very successful work that we have been doing out of Royal Darwin Hospital, which will be one element used to relieve the pressure on beds in the hospital; and the Discharge Lounge trial which has been very successful will now be a permanent arrangement within the hospital.
We are upgrading the renal facilities at Flynn Drive to the tune of $1m, and we are increasing the palliative care coverage in Central Australia with increased medical hours and part-time bereavement workers in Central Australia.
By the way, for the Leader of the Opposition, we do have medication for allergies. It seems that she is again reacting to bad news with a rather nasty rash.
There is an additional $0.3m for professional staff accommodation in Alice Springs - these are the nurses’ quarters, mainly on campus. That will bring the total project to $0.55m. There is $6.5m additional money to continue the rectification work in the main hospital buildings, which will achieve several new working wards at full compliant level according to the national standards for hospitals.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is a good question and it gives me a chance to move the spotlight from the Royal Darwin Hospital. After two visits to Royal Darwin Hospital yesterday and today, there is absolute delight from the staff at the initiatives we have offered that hospital in response to their No 1 priority that they put to us, particularly the senior clinicians and the critical care nurses, to have permanent solutions in place to the issues of bed block and access to the general hospital capacity.
Moving to Alice Springs, immediate extra funding is going into that hospital, taking the total annual budget up to $97m, which is a $7m increase over the current budgeted amount. That will allow the hospital to immediately deal with the high demand levels going into ED, with the use of such things as overflow beds, to adjust their staffing in response to spikes of demand that come through the front door of the hospital. We are also beginning work immediately to deliver on our promise of the 24 beds to Alice Springs. We are preparing space for 15 beds to go into that hospital as soon as the capital works can be carried out in conjunction with the repair work that is being done on the main hospital buildings in Alice Springs - repair work that has been necessary because of a totally botched process that left us with a building that was not compliant with national standards of safety or functionality for a hospital.
We have worked through that shameful situation. We are now linking the provision of these additional beds to the hospital as soon as possible to get them into the areas being prepared in Ward 4. The planning and design of the upgrade of the Emergency Department will begin immediately to get a full work plan together so that the government can address that need. That work will also have to be linked to the general work going on in the building which ED shares with all the other working wards of the department. Work will begin immediately to get the designs together so that we can then address them as a government.
We are introducing support to other areas of that hospital: rehabilitation services will be improved by the employment of two extra allied health positions; free neonatal hearing tests will be introduced through that hospital for all newborn babies; a Hospital in the Home service will be developed and trialled in Alice Springs for the first time, duplicating the very successful work that we have been doing out of Royal Darwin Hospital, which will be one element used to relieve the pressure on beds in the hospital; and the Discharge Lounge trial which has been very successful will now be a permanent arrangement within the hospital.
We are upgrading the renal facilities at Flynn Drive to the tune of $1m, and we are increasing the palliative care coverage in Central Australia with increased medical hours and part-time bereavement workers in Central Australia.
By the way, for the Leader of the Opposition, we do have medication for allergies. It seems that she is again reacting to bad news with a rather nasty rash.
There is an additional $0.3m for professional staff accommodation in Alice Springs - these are the nurses’ quarters, mainly on campus. That will bring the total project to $0.55m. There is $6.5m additional money to continue the rectification work in the main hospital buildings, which will achieve several new working wards at full compliant level according to the national standards for hospitals.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016