Wyatt Roy (Longman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 10 February a community health forum was run in my electorate of Longman. I thank the shadow minister for health and ageing, Peter Dutton; the state shadow minister for health, Mark McArdle; and the state shadow parliamentary secretary for mental health, drug strategy and health personnel, Mr Andrew Powell, the member for Glasshouse, for their attendance and support in addressing the concerns expressed by the attendees. The forum was organised in partnership with Lisa France, LNP candidate for Pumicestone, and was also attended by Darren Grimwade, LNP candidate for Morayfield.

This was an opportunity for the community to directly raise their concerns about health with the alternative state and federal government. It represents the approach I said I would take during the last election campaign. I said I wanted to bring the concerns of my constituents to Canberra rather than impose Canberra on my constituents, and I continue to strongly believe that that can be my role. Many of the issues raised related to the shortcomings of the Caboolture Hospital. Waiting times, unrealistic nursing workloads, insufficient funding, the services available to mental health patients, hospital administration and an onerous bureaucratic system were among the matters discussed.

It is a fundamental right of Australians to expect access to quality health services. The hardworking medical staff at the Caboolture Hospital in my electorate do a fantastic job, but they need more resources and fewer bureaucratic constraints. Longman is one of the fastest growing regions in Queensland, and demands on local health services are clearly strained. We know that the demand will only increase with population growth. Under the Department of Health and Ageing’s own population projections, by 2026 the region’s population is expected to reach some 200,000. We know that people want to move to our region—it is one of the best places in the world to live—but we also know that we cannot put a gate up on the Bruce Highway and tell people to stop coming. But, unlike the Labor Party, we do not want to play catch-up with health. We want to put more than a bandaid on what are very real problems.

At present there are 187 beds available in the Caboolture Hospital and 21 bays in the emergency department. An estimated 600 beds and 52 emergency bays are required to service the region by 2026. The AMA public hospital report card 2010 states that the Caboolture Hospital ‘operated on average at over 100 per cent occupancy, showing significant overstressing of capacity’. A safe occupancy rate is of an average of only 85 per cent.

It was again made evident that mental health is a major issue for my electorate. We have one of the highest suicide rates in the country. Mental illness affects more Australians, particularly the young, than nearly all other health issues. At the last election the coalition developed a mental health policy in consultation with Patrick McGorry and John Mendoza designed to improve mental health care throughout Australia. For Longman this would have had very real and practical outcomes. A coalition government would have committed $60 million for the establishment of an early psychosis prevention and intervention centre. The centre was designed to service the Moreton Bay region and the northern suburbs of Brisbane and would have had up to 20 acute and subacute beds for mental health patients. It was also designed to provide 24-hour care and outpatient services.

This forum provided a great opportunity to listen to the concerns of my community. The coalition is committed to finding practical, real solutions to health problems working at a grassroots level. The coalition’s health plans would deliver health services to local hospital boards and eliminate bureaucracy, enabling doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to focus on patient care. We believe that a doctor or nurse at the Caboolture Hospital understands the health needs of our local area better than a bureaucrat in Brisbane or Canberra. A focus on patient care is needed. A health system where patient care is valued is needed—where a dollar spent on hospitals is a dollar for patient care. We want a health system that values taxpayers’ money and empowers healthcare professionals instead of restraining them with an excessive bureaucracy.