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Hospital secrets hidden from election spotlight

“I was surprised that all the information of substance, including the construction timeframes for the major components of the master plan for the 2008 Canberra Hospital campus redevelopment, had been deleted… What it is Andrew and Shane don’t want us to know about?” writes JON STANHOPE.

ON August 12 I wrote in “CityNews” about the severe shortage of public hospital beds in Canberra and the impact this is having on residents, in the main from low-income households.

Jon Stanhope.

The implications of an underfunded public-health system have in the interim been dramatically illustrated by the revelation that thousands of Canberra children are waiting for up to four years for an appointment with a specialist at the Canberra Hospital, let alone treatment.

I have also previously referred to the experience of Aboriginal work colleagues at Winnunga Nimmitytjah who, unable to afford private health insurance, have waited up to four years for surgery for debilitating medical conditions or otherwise been forced to raid their superannuation to pay for surgery for either themselves or their children.

You may recall that in the article I mentioned above, I made reference to the detailed planning undertaken in 2008/9 under the leadership of then-Minister for Health Katy Gallagher to future-proof the ACT health system and so ensure it met the needs of a growing and ageing community. 

That planning resulted in the development of an exhaustive ACT Health Capital Asset Development Plan (CADP) and was backed by a funding commitment of $1 billion with an initial allocation of $300 million in the 2008/9 Budget.

In essence, the CADP involved, among other things, the complete redevelopment of the Canberra Hospital precinct. A master plan, involving extensive clinical and community consultation, was prepared. The centrepiece of the plan was to be the construction of a replacement for the main building/tower and the provision of an additional 400 public hospital beds by 2022.

However, it is clear following the departure of Katy Gallagher in 2014 that the new leadership team of Andrew Barr and Shane Rattenbury abandoned the commitment to the CADP and funding for additional public hospital beds. 

My colleague Dr Khalid Ahmed and I have determined that at that time the ACT government also instituted an annual cut, in real terms, to the overall health budget of in the order of $100 million. Our analysis in support of this finding is contained in articles we have posted to the Policy Space blog of the University of Canberra.

My interest was obviously piqued by the decision to abandon the CADP and I lodged, on June 11, an FOI request for a copy of the plan.

In response to my request, I was advised by the relevant ACT Health FOI officer that the CADP was comprised of 11,000 pages and I was asked if I would refine my request, in the first instance, to a copy of the CADP table of contents and the executive summary, which I was advised, constituted only 30 pages.

As an aside, the fact that the CADP is 11,000 pages is an indication of the effort and thoroughness involved in its development.

Not wishing to be unreasonable or thought to be churlish, I willingly agreed to limit the request, as proposed by the FOI officer, to just the first 30 of the 11,000 pages.

I was, therefore, as I am sure you would understand, more than a little surprised when, on receipt of the table of contents and the executive summary that all of the information of substance, including in particular the construction timeframes for the major components of the master plan for the Canberra Hospital campus redevelopment, had been deleted.

The master plan has been published by the ACT government in a document titled “Your Health – Our Priority. Ready for the Future”.

Struggling to understand why, if the proposed master plan is publicly available, that I was denied access to the construction timeframe incorporated in the CADP for the completion of the distinct elements of the plan, I asked the ombudsman to review the decision of the ACT government to keep the timetable secret.

The ombudsman, after an exhaustive examination of the issues, advised both myself and the government that he believed that the documents, the subject of the FOI request including the construction timeframe, should be released in full.

However, the ACT government has advised the ombudsman that it has sought legal advice on his decision with a view, presumably, of instituting legal action designed to overturn the ombudsman’s decision and so keep the construction timeframe of the ACT Health CADP, which was long ago abandoned by the ALP and the Greens, a state secret, at least until after the impending election.

I wonder which part of the abandoned CADP it is that Andrew and Shane don’t want us to know about?

Look and weep… the abandoned 2008-2022 plan for the ACT hospitals.

 

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Jon Stanhope

Jon Stanhope

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One Response to Hospital secrets hidden from election spotlight

Hamba says: 13 October 2020 at 2:27 pm

Re-election will merely embolden this mob. Kudos to Mr Stanhope for figuring this out and taking a clear stand. We’re about to find out if wealthy ‘progressive’ voters genuinely care about things like public health care or not.

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