Shadow Minister for Health Leanne Castley will today move a motion to compel the Minister to take complaints about the delivery of cardiology services at The Canberra Hospital seriously.

A fortnight ago, five private sector cardiologists wrote a seven-page letter to the Health Minister, Rachel Stephen-Smith, detailing their concerns about cardiology services at The Canberra Hospital. They complained that:

• in the past year the availability of cardiology services at The Canberra Hospital has deteriorated to standards far below national and international guidelines
• uninsured patients are suffering poor health care with significant potential for avoidable adverse outcomes, plus considerable emotional distress
• these problems are largely the result of poor managerial decisions made by the ACT Health Directorate or Canberra Health Services
• there is no functional central waiting list system. As a result, referrals “disappear,” while waiting lists for some procedures have become “critical”.
• cardiac testing and specialist cardiac facilities have been cut back, cardiologists and allied health and nursing staff with specialised skill sets have left, while the quality of training provided to Advanced Physician Trainees has declined.

Ms Castley said despite agreeing to meet the cardiologists, so far the Health Minister has depicted their concerns as a communications issue and said they needed to understand all the Government was doing.

“Today we will test whether this Government is serious about addressing these complaints or whether the Health Minister is again in damage control mode,” Ms Castley said.

“My motion calls on the Government to answer 26 factual questions, which will establish if the cardiologists’ concerns are well founded.

“It is not good enough for the Minister to pretend all is well with health services in the ACT as she lurches from one crisis to another.

“As the Canberra Times says, if there are, ‘serious problems at the Canberra Hospital then they need to be fixed. It’s a matter of life and death’,” Ms Castley concluded.