[UPDATE: The Green’s Amanda Bresnan is happy about the new money but disappointed the reform agenda has been squibbed.]
The Chiefly Stanhope is over the moon with yesterday’s health deal and apparently the ACT is going to get everything we ever wanted out of it.
The silence of the Liberals since the deal was announced suggests this might be true.
Apparently the dead weight of surrounding NSW is to be lifted from our health service’s chest. Amongst the goodies we’re getting are:
- — 22 new sub acute hospital beds ($26 million);
— 1 additional operating theatre ($2.5 million in capital funding);
— $8 million over 4 years to cut emergency department waiting times;
— $4 million in capital funding for emergency departments;
— $10.4 million over 4 years for elective surgery, equating to more than 350 extra elective surgeries a year by 2013-14;
— $3.2 million in flexible funding to be delivered at emergency departments or for elective surgery;
— $3 million for sub-acute services (under the multipurpose services funding);
— $4.5 million for aged care-type patients in hospitals