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Northern Beaches Health Services

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About this Item
Speakers - Hazzard Mr Brad; Refshauge Dr Andrew; Brogden Mr John; Watkins Mr John; Macdonald Dr Peter; Beamer Ms Diane
Business - 

NORTHERN BEACHES HEALTH SERVICES

Mr HAZZARD (Wakehurst) [12.22 p.m.]: I move:
      That this House:
      (1) notes with concern the Government's failure to satisfy concerns expressed by residents of the northern beaches area of Sydney regarding the downgrading of health services offered through Manly District Hospital, Mona Vale Hospital and community health centres;
      (2) condemns the Government's failure to act to establish an adequate consultation process with the communities of the northern beaches area of Sydney prior to the recent cuts in the level of health services offered in the electorates of Wakehurst, Manly and Pittwater; and
      (3) condemns the Government for its failure to provide adequate funding to Manly District Hospital such that the hospital has been forced to close a 10-bed ward, south wing 4, on weekends leaving an inadequate number of beds available for patients and forcing a 96-year-old woman to remain on a hospital trolley for 24 hours in casualty on the weekend of 11 May 1996.

The Carr Government deserves to be condemned by the entire population of the northern beaches area for its failure to provide adequate and reasonable health services. Shortly after the Government came to power in March 1995, rumours started circulating that the Government intended to cut funding from and destroy northern beaches health services. Local community groups made a number of attempts to establish exactly what was going on. Many letters were written to the Minister for Health from members of the community, from community groups and from the parliamentary representatives of the northern beaches area: the honourable member for Pittwater, the honourable member for Manly, the honourable member for Davidson and me. Getting a straight answer from the Minister was extremely difficult. In fact, to this day he has not provided a straight answer about what is being done to northern beaches health services. The rumours about the downgrading of those services were denied completely. The mayor of Manly, the honourable member for Manly and I attended a meeting held at the Minister's office in late 1995. The Minister just patted us on the head. We got only platitudes, nothing of substance.

Dr Refshauge: You did not get any platitudes at all.

Page 8718

Mr HAZZARD: The Minister has said that we did not even get platitudes - and that is probably right! We did not get much at all that afternoon, and the people of the northern beaches now have even less. On 28 November 1995 the truth about the Government's secret strategy for the health services of the northern beaches started to leak out. The medical staff council for Manly District Hospital and Community Health Service met on 28 November 1995. The Minister claimed that health services funding for the northern beaches would not be cut. What emerged from that meeting? A memo. I shall read the assumption made by the good members of the medical staff council:
      Since the last meeting of the Medical Staff Council there have been two meetings to discuss the future of the health services on the peninsula.
      The first was in early October when Stuart Spring held discussions with the Executive Directors and Chairmen of both hospitals' MSC and Management Committees. The second was last night and involved a seven hour session with a total of 34 people, including 12 clinicians.
      Given assumptions -

the Minister probably still does not know about this -
      are that there will be $5-$10 million less money, (on a combined acute service budget of about $70 million now) and 50-65 less acute beds available to the peninsula in five years time. Cutting -

I shall repeat that word, in case the Minister missed it -
      Cutting clinical services will only result in more severe budget cuts because a sort of case-mix funding will be introduced in 1997-98.

That was the first real warning to the people of the northern beaches that the Minister's claims were not true. Regrettably, it was obvious that the Minister had no handle on the issues facing the northern beaches or that he had conspired with the Northern Sydney Area Health Service to reduce funding to the northern beaches. In February 1996 another meeting took place in the electorate of the honourable member for Manly. I remind the Minister that there is a great bipartisanship on this issue: all members representing electorates in the area are concerned about hospitals on the northern beaches.

[Interruption]

The honourable member for Gladesville should not interject. Mental health services in his electorate are already getting more funding, compliments of the Minister. He should keep quiet and disappear.

[Interruption]

The Minister knows that the Ryde Hospital intensive care unit is to receive an extra $100,000, but can he tell the House about one extra cent that has been allocated to the northern beaches? In February 1996 about 1,000 people attended a meeting at Manly. The feeling at that meeting was one of extreme concern. Promises were made at that meeting, and almost instantly they were broken. It was indicated that the 1,000 birth maternity unit at Manly District Hospital, which has a long and proud tradition of caring for the people of the northern beaches, would probably close. The Minister and his advisers denied that. Yet the debacle continued over the following months. Can you guess which day I am going to talk about now?

Dr Refshauge: Was the maternity ward closed?

Mr HAZZARD: You cannot guess. He has now asked whether the maternity ward has closed. It has not closed - no thanks to the Minister! It has remained open thanks to the coalition members and to the honourable member for Manly who put heat on the Minister. He knew that if he closed the ward he would be in deep trouble. The Minister has not only presided over the debacle at Manly District Hospital. He has presided over the debacles at St George Hospital, St Vincent's Hospital and other hospitals. You have forgotten the day to which I am referring, so I will tell you. It was 26 June, a date that is firmly ingrained in the minds of all people who live on the northern beaches. That is the day they heard about what you intended to do to destroy the Manly District Hospital maternity unit and other services provided through the Manly and Mona Vale hospitals. You went into denial mode, and you have continued to deny the funding cuts.

Mr Hunter: On a point of order. I ask you to direct the honourable member for Wakehurst to address his remarks through the Chair. He has continually referred to the Minister as "you" and he is speaking across the table.

Mr ACTING-SPEAKER (Mr Mills): Order! I am sure the honourable for Wakehurst has taken the point. I uphold the point of order. The member for Wakehurst has the call.

Mr HAZZARD: Another headline reads, "Closure a trick". These are no tricks. The Minister is seeking to close the services. An essential problem for the northern beaches is that the Minister removed the individual advocate for both hospitals and approved the appointment of a joint chief
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executive for both Mona Vale and Manly hospitals. I do not reflect on the person who occupies that position, Lesley McAdam, who is doing the job the best she can, but if the Minister is serious about the redirection he took after the St Vincent's Hospital debacle, the first sign that he is listening to people on the northern beaches would be for him to direct the Northern Sydney Area Health Service to ensure the individual appointment of a chief executive officer to Manly District Hospital and one to Mona Vale Hospital.

Lesley McAdam came from Mona Vale Hospital, so it would be logical for her to preserve the right to remain there. However, Manly District Hospital deserves to have someone who is a protector, who can devote their whole time and focus towards preservation, and caring and proper management of that hospital. The hospital requires someone who can deal with the reviews, asset strategic plans and so on that go on behind the scenes. I ask the Minister to give serious consideration to doing what is only fair, that is, ensuring that the Northern Sydney Area Health Service makes an individual appointment to each hospital. Only one other hospital in New South Wales has a joint chief executive - [Time expired.]

Dr REFSHAUGE (Marrickville - Deputy Premier, Minister for Health, and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs) [12.32 p.m.]: I oppose the motion moved by the honourable member for Wakehurst. He has obviously got it wrong again. There is no threat to Manly and Mona Vale hospitals. They are not being cut back; they are not slated for closure. The attack of the honourable member for Wakehurst on his Federal Minister for Health, Michael Wooldridge, is outrageous. Although I have had concerns about what Michael Wooldridge has been able to do, and the fact that he seeks to bring in evidence-based medicine and work towards casemix benchmarking in our health care system, being attacked by the honourable member for Wakehurst -

Mr Hazzard: On a point of order. I was not attacking the Federal Minister. I was attacking this Minister for the hospital turmoil, as evidenced by the headline of 26 June 1996.

Mr ACTING-SPEAKER: Which standing order does the member claim has been breached?

Mr Hazzard: Standing Order 85 on relevance.

Mr ACTING-SPEAKER: Order! No point of order is involved.

Dr REFSHAUGE: The attack by the honourable member for Wakehurst on his Federal colleagues for bringing in some form of casemix benchmarking to the health care system demonstrates that he is abhorrently opposed to that prospect and illustrates yet again a major split in the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party in Canberra is unable to really get health on the agenda. It has cut back on health services and every public hospital in New South Wales and Australia. Over the past year or so those cuts have totalled more than $100 million. On top of that, the Federal Government has made no progress in arresting the decrease in membership of private health insurance funds, which is costing this State each year $240 million.

It is outrageous for the honourable member for Wakehurst to attack the only part of the Federal policy that could achieve a sensible, efficient health care system. This issue was raised by the honourable member for Wakehurst in defence of the hospitals in his electorate. He asked that these measures not be taken, that we not do what his Federal colleagues want to do, that we not introduce inefficiency into the system. He went further and suggested reducing nursing positions and putting in an administrator, someone who will not look after patients but who will take money out of patient care services. That is his proposal to improve northern beaches health services. I will not do that. I believe that patients need care - not a cut in services, but an enhancement of services.

The honourable member for Wakehurst also criticised his colleagues the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. He said that there would be a reduction in the number of beds. That is exactly what his colleagues did when they were health Ministers. So the honourable member for Wakehurst should attack his own colleagues, who reduced the number of beds at Manly District Hospital. There is no doubt that the honourable member for Wakehurst is on his own. He is not supported in his criticism of his Federal colleagues, in particular, the Federal Minister for Health, Michael Wooldridge, though I have certainly criticised the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition for their massive assault on hospitals and the closure of beds. However, the honourable member for Wakehurst joins with the Government in attacking his own side for what it did in its seven years of government.

Since coming to office the Government has increased, not reduced, funding for the Northern Sydney Area Health Service. If the honourable member for Wakehurst and his cronies decide that
Page 8720
what has happened in the Northern Sydney Area Health Service is not any good, the honourable member for Wakehurst can ask me to reduce funding to that service. I believe the funding improves services but if the honourable member for Wakehurst says it is not being used, that it is of no use - in fact he has said funding has been cut - he can put forward the argument that he does not need that money. Certainly throughout this great State there are area health services that can spend money wisely if the honourable member for Wakehurst is of the view that the increased funding for the northern beaches area provided by the Government is not required.

Significant improvements have been achieved in the provision of services to the northern beaches. Over the past 12 months the Government has opened a new customised building for a 10-bed drug and alcohol unit based at Manly District Hospital. The honourable member for Wakehurst says that is not an improvement. I believe the provision of services at Manly for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol is an improvement. The Government has also expanded Manly District Hospital's mental health service by establishing a 10-bed aged care mental health facility, which was completed earlier this year. Again, the honourable member for Wakehurst has said that nothing has improved and that there have only been cuts. I think that facility is an improvement and certainly those with mental health problems, particularly the aged and carers, are pleased with that improvement in services. However, if the honourable member for Wakehurst does not believe it is an improvement, he can put an argument to me that the facility should be closed. I am committed to that improvement and I do not believe it should be closed. I am positive about that improvement; but if the honourable member believes it is no good, he can put that on the record.

The mental health crisis team has received extra funding to ensure that people on the northern beaches have access to 24-hour crisis care. That is an improvement. If the honourable member for Wakehurst does not regard that as an improvement or considers that it is not worthwhile, he can state in writing to me that he does not believe 24-hour crisis care should be available. Planning is already under way for the building of a new hydrotherapy pool at Manly District Hospital, which will be an improvement. If the honourable member for Wakehurst does not believe that, again he can put in writing that he does not want that to happen. A procurement feasibility study has been approved for a new 30-bed aged care unit. Only this week the intensive care unit service at Mona Vale Hospital received hundreds of thousands of dollars in new equipment.

Mr Brogden: But you are about to close that. Why did you put new equipment in there if you are about to close it?

Dr REFSHAUGE: There is to be no closing.

Mr Brogden: What about the downgrading?

Dr REFSHAUGE: It is a lie that is being generated. Why would we put extra funding -

Mr ACTING-SPEAKER (Mr Mills): Order! The member for Wakehurst and the member for Pittwater will cease interjecting.

Dr REFSHAUGE: The Government is putting extra money into better equipment for the intensive care units at both Mona Vale Hospital and, I understand, Ryde Hospital. That is an improvement, not a reduction. Health services in the northern beaches region are getting extra funding from a Labor Government. It is a Labor Government that is providing improvements. It is not the honourable member for Manly or the honourable member for Wakehurst who is making provision for those improvements; it is Labor that is providing improvements.

Mr Hazzard: Because of pressure.

Dr REFSHAUGE: The honourable member for Wakehurst made it very clear when he and his cronies came to visit me at my North Sydney office that they were received courteously - and they were. But, after all their bleatings, they got nothing and will not get anything. Their constituents will get something, because I will deliver, and am delivering, services to them. I will not play his political games. When the honourable member for Wakehurst stupidly says that increased funding is a cutback, then anything he says will be taken with a grain of salt. I am happy to look at any proposal that he thinks is worthwhile. But when he says that increased funding is a cut, then his credibility is zero.

I am prepared to make sure that the Government's allocation of funding throughout the areas is fair. But it was not this Government that created the unfairness. The honourable member for Wakehurst criticised the internal provision of dollars per capita for the Northern Sydney Area Health Service. But it was not Labor that set that in place: it was the Government of his own persuasion. In the seven years that the Opposition was in government
Page 8721
the honourable member for Wakehurst never came into this House and said that distribution was not fair. That clearly shows his hypocrisy. I am also pleased to say that the Government has announced funding for a new $11.6 million paediatric unit at Royal North Shore Hospital. To make sure that there is no misunderstanding, this is not all Government money. A significant amount has been raised by donations. Nevertheless, the Government is pleased to work with those fundraising organisations. The importance and need for that unit is not underestimated by all families who live on the north shore and will be very pleased to use it if they have a need to. The Opposition motion is ridiculous.

Mr BROGDEN (Pittwater) [12.42 p.m.]: I am delighted that my mother is not in the gallery today to hear that speech from her local member. She would have been devastated to hear the words of the Minister for Health. I am glad that she, as a resident of Sydenham, was not present to hear that pathetic response to the important demands of the people of the northern beaches of Sydney for better health services. The plan of the Carr Government, dictated from day one, is clear - one hospital on two campuses for the northern beaches of Sydney. The Government's attempt to fulfil its plan last year failed, and it now seeks to implement the plan by stealth. That plan, which the Government is now seeking to slowly slip in as staff leave and funding and resources change -

Mr Hazzard: Are reduced.

Mr BROGDEN: Funding and resources are being reduced, as the honourable member for Wakehurst said, at both Mona Vale and Manly hospitals. The Government's plan will lead, for instance, to there being one maternity unit and one intensive care unit between the two hospitals. The only similarity to the present situation will be that each hospital will have an emergency ward. This attempt to downgrade both hospitals and maintain one hospital on two campuses has been denied again and again. The plans came forth in the so-called strategic asset management plan last year, which was resoundingly rejected by the communities of the northern beaches, in particular by the staff, patients, former patients and community activists in Manly.

Dr Macdonald: Grassroots independents.

Mr BROGDEN: Yes. Supporting them was the community of Pittwater, which was extremely concerned about the attacks on the health services at Mona Vale Hospital. As the honourable member for Wakehurst mentioned - and I am sure the honourable member for Manly will elucidate on - the rally at Manly rugby oval last year was attended by thousands of people who expressed their concern about this Government's plan. At the same time a rally was held in the Mona Vale community hall, where hundreds of residents gathered to protest the changes. For the Minister's information, I will give a brief history of Mona Vale Hospital, which is within the Pittwater electorate. Mona Vale Hospital was built just over 30 years ago as a result of community demands for a hospital by the people of Pittwater. At that stage, 30 years ago, there was recognition that the people of the northern peninsula could not rely on the provision of health services at Manly District Hospital. However, 30 years later the Government is trying to force that situation upon the people of the northern beaches.

In particular, there has been a great deal of discussion today about the intensive care unit. The Minister seems to want to deny the assertions made in the document to which the honourable member for Wakehurst referred. Clearly his department has not passed on to him the report of this month from the Northern Sydney Area Health Service area-wide intensive care planning working party, in particular regarding short-term strategies. I am glad that the honourable member for Gladesville is in the Chamber, because this report affects his community as well. The preferred option stated in this paper is to downgrade the intensive care units in both Mona Vale and Ryde hospitals and for those hospitals to rely on a combination of services out of Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai, Royal North Shore and Manly hospitals. I note that today, in response to significant media speculation about concerns affecting this plan -

Dr Refshauge: On the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald this morning.

Mr BROGDEN: The Manly Daily has an 80 per cent readership on the northern beaches -

Mr ACTING-SPEAKER (Mr Mills): Order! The honourable member for Wakehurst will cease interjecting.

Mr BROGDEN: - and the Sydney Morning Herald comes a very sad second. Today's Manly Daily at page three highlights the concern of the community about the Minister's plans to downgrade the Mona Vale intensive care unit. I noted the Minister's comments this morning on radio 2UE, which clearly were made not long after waking up because his first utterances made no sense. The Minister finished the interview by saying that intensive care units will not close. The Opposition has never suggested they will close. We have
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suggested they will be downgraded. The Minister can check Hansard and all the press statements and read the report that I have here. I am happy to make a copy available to him. Clearly he has not been given a copy by his department or the Northern Sydney Area Health Service. This document clearly shows the intention of the Minister and the Government to downgrade the intensive care units. The Minister says that they will not close. The Government should give the hospitals enough funds to make sure that they keep operating under the current system. Do not force the people of Pittwater to rely on Manly District Hospital for their intensive care needs. [Time expired.]

Mr WATKINS (Gladesville) [12.47 p.m.]: As the only Government member with a seat in the Northern Sydney Area Health Service region I have had to deal with these half-truths and misstatements many times. They are driven by self-interested groups and the political interests of honourable members who want to get a headline in the Manly Daily. Unfortunately, they have been accepted by the people in the community, who are now in a state where they are willing to believe the worst about many community issues. For various reasons, people are frightened about a range of State and Federal government initiatives.

Mr Hazzard: On a point of order. I ask you to bring the honourable member for Gladesville back to the leave of the motion. At the moment he is making a rambling diatribe and appears to know nothing about northern beaches health matters or the Northern Sydney Area Health Service.

Mr ACTING-SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member for Wakehurst is now debating the matter. The comments of the honourable member for Gladesville were relevant. There is no point of order.

Mr WATKINS: I will continue my incisive introduction. The Opposition is to be condemned for shamelessly causing concern about health care in the northern beaches area. It should be condemned because it is causing concerns in homes in the electorates that its members represent. It is causing unnecessary concern to the aged, young mothers and families. But these concerns are important in the lives of people who worry about health care issues. When politicians shamelessly and inaccurately cause that level of concern one cannot but feel for the people targeted. The suggestion that Mona Vale Hospital is slated for closure is plainly wrong, wrong, wrong. There is no threat to Mona Vale Hospital and there is no suggestion that it will be shut. The suggestion is part of the Opposition's scaremongering campaign. The problem is that people can always get a headline with such a story.

The Opposition must learn to be more responsible in its behaviour. It has undermined public confidence in our hospital system, which is amongst the best in the world. But if they keep talking it down, when the coalition returns to this side of the Chamber, perhaps at the end of the next decade, it will reap the whirlwind of the lack of confidence in the hospital system. Only yesterday Opposition members were claiming that intensive care unit services at Mona Vale and Ryde hospitals were being closed. That is clearly wrong, a misstatement of fact. The retirement of intensive care specialists does not mean the closure of an ICU. People in our health service retire all the time, and they are replaced.

The ICU positions at the hospitals will be advertised and filled. In June of this year the ICU specialist at Mona Vale will resign, and there may be difficulties in finding a replacement. That is not due to any policy of this Government or any budgetary restraint; it is due to problems in the medical profession - problems largely the responsibility of the Federal Government. It is because of the relative shortage of specialists in this area. The Northern Sydney Area Health Service will maintain the ICU services at Mona Vale to ensure that people of the area have the services they need. But this situation is not being helped by the rumour mongering which is undermining confidence in the hospitals. The Northern Sydney Area Health Service is doing everything in its power to ensure that services are delivered to the people of the northern beaches. The Opposition says that we are closing the ICU, but only yesterday the area health service provided an extra $283,000 for new monitors for the ICU and emergency departments.

Mr Photios: On a point of order. The honourable member is misleading the House. We have claimed with detailed documents that the ICU has been downgraded.

Mr ACTING-SPEAKER: Order! There is no point of order. The honourable member is debating the issue.

Mr WATKINS: We are working to improve health care services for everyone in New South Wales and Opposition members are working to undermine health care. [Time expired.]

Dr MACDONALD (Manly) [12.52 p.m.]: I am disappointed that the honourable member for Gladesville has become an apologist for the
Page 8723
redistribution disasters of last year. I make no apology for the fact that I stand up for my electorate. I do not think that the actions of honourable members on the peninsula in the last 18 months should be cheapened by labelling them as merely taking a political position. The actions reflect significant concern not only in this area but also in other established areas where the Government attempted to take money out of the system.

I want to tackle the problem from a slightly different angle. I do not want simply to stand up and froth at the mouth. This debate is nine months old; it is a bit out of date, to put it mildly. However, it allows us to reflect on the process and where things went wrong. Last year the Minister for Health got his fingers badly burned. The attempt to rob Peter to pay Paul, to take money out of established areas where there were services that in a sense were only just adequate and put them into new growth areas, was flawed. This seems to be reflected in the current budget, which will increase health spending by 10 per cent - an enormous increase, which I certainly welcome. Only a small amount will come to the Northern Sydney Area Health Service, I acknowledge, but as long as the money is not being ripped from it at least we can hold our own.

From the debacle starting in November 1995 we learned that secrecy always brings problems. Decisions made behind closed doors are always regretted. We need an open and accountable process. The asset strategic plan, which was the basis on which there was to be reorganisation in the northern beaches area, was discussed in secret. The first we knew about it was when it came out in a newsletter of the Northern Sydney Area Health Service in November 1995. It heralded significant changes to the landscape of health care on the peninsula. Yet the local politicians and the community were locked out of the process.

Another lesson to come from it is in relation to the role of the area health boards. I have been publicly critical of the Northern Sydney Area Health Service. I have contemplated introducing legislation to amend the health board Act to bring more accountability to and to ensure proper representation on the boards. The Northern Sydney Area Health Service board had not one person standing up for Manly hospital. The board would argue that that is not its job; its job is to take a more holistic view of the distribution of funding, but I do not think that is proper. People on the board should take in the view of the community about the value of the services in the area.

It was because of a community-based group that we got off the starting blocks pretty quickly on this issue in January and February of 1996. The Manly Hospital Action Committee was established in 1992. It is a community-based committee which does not consist of party politicians who sit around dreaming up deals in back rooms. This grassroots organisation recognised that real problems were occurring. The committee held public meetings and took deputations to the Minister. Basically, it aroused the community and the media to the best possible effect. Similar action was taken in other areas. Eventually the Minister effectively had to back down.

Since then we have moved on. We have learned from the process. The Manly Hospital Action Committee has had a meeting with the new chief executive officer of the Northern Sydney Area Health Service. We said that we want no white-anting of services in the area. We want proper discussions including all particular groups; we want proper consultation. I conclude by putting on record what the community wants in the future. It wants a hospital at both ends of the peninsula providing an adequate district hospital service - a range of services consistent with what we have at the moment. We have described it as a critical mass.

Once the ICU, the accident and emergency section and the maternity section of a hospital are removed it drops below the critical mass. We want a hospital that has that range of services. We do not want an amalgamation. At the southern end of the peninsula the population is ageing. There is a very high visitation rate warranting an adequate hospital. Manly hospital is broadly supported by the community and by sponsorship. The Minister for Health well knows that some of its equipment and facilities have been provided as a result of sponsorship. [Time expired.]

Mrs BEAMER (Badgerys Creek) [12.58 p.m.]: The Carr Government is not about downgrading hospitals, closing hospitals or cutting funding for hospitals. That was the prerogative of the former coalition Government. This Government is about improving hospitals, opening hospitals and enhancing care. The Opposition is about scaremongering within the community. Manly and Mona Vale hospitals are no exceptions: the Government is about improving services at those hospitals. The Opposition is about causing fear.

As the honourable member for Manly said - he can read budget documents - this year funds for those hospitals have increased. There has been no downgrading of health services at Manly District Hospital or Mona Vale Hospital. Indeed, health services in the Northern Sydney Area Health Service
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region have been strengthened in the budget. They have been enhanced by this Government to meet the special needs of the northern beaches community. New technologies, which are constantly changing, have a dramatic impact on the delivery of health care to the community. New methods of prevention and disease are being developed all the time. Sometimes the change is perceived as negative. Many people do not understand what new technologies can deliver, and they cannot be judged by traditional measurements. The Opposition is about causing fear in the community and preying on fears. As the honourable member for Manly said, this is one avenue where we are improving services to the people of the northern beaches. These concerns are born largely out of misunderstandings about the pace of technological change and developments in clinical practice. They have been fed by the Opposition. Over the past 12 months the management of Manly and Mona Vale hospitals has, in conjunction with the Northern Sydney Area Health Service, undertaken community consultation and discussion to alleviate these very concerns. These mechanisms and consultations are constantly reviewed with a view to strengthening community participation and easing these unfounded fears. No cuts have been made to the level of health services to the communities of Wakehurst, Manly and Pittwater.

Pursuant to sessional orders business interrupted.




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