Another morning, another Labor health announcement:
A re-elected ACT Labor Government will provide another $15 million to further improve access to outpatient services, imaging and chronic pain care.
This includes:
— $10m to increase access to general outpatient services at Canberra Hospital to provide for new treatment options and meet growing demand. This will enable us to employ 12 new nurses and 23 more allied health professionals across a range of specialities;
— $2.3m for paediatric ophthalmology to reduce the need for young patients to travel interstate and provide pre- and post surgical care. The funding will provide for two nurses and opthamologist;
— $1.5m to expand the chronic pain management service to support Canberrans living with severe and debilitating pain. We will recruit an additional specialist and two nurses;
— $1.2m to expand imaging services for both inpatients and outpatients. This will enable us to boost capacity overall and also assist in speeding up imaging services for hospital patients such as those being seen in the emergency department. This funding will provide for additional specialists. It means scans will be reviewed sooner, and patients will move through the hospital more quickly.