The ever worsening emergency department

Tetranitrate said :

Well, the role of the Shadow-Ministry is literally to ‘shadow’ the ministers

Exactly. So do you have an estimate of when we can expect the Shadow Minister of Health to have sufficiently learnt-the-ropes so that he can make a suggestion to how we can fix the problem? Or can we just expect another four years of “things are sh*t” press releases?

The problem with health care is that it is a bottomless pit for money, even if we threw vast sums of money at the problem we’d just draw people away from GP’s and into the ED.

I think the point here is “constructive criticism.”

I would vote for a politician whose media release offered some well researched suggestions to start helping the problem. I would be pleased to see some good ideas.

Australian politicians spend so much time calling each other names that I’m not surprised they get so little done!

Who wants to start a Riot Party with me? No name calling allowed, you have to think of something intelligent to say so it’s actually hard work.

davo101 said :

Tetranitrate said :

Hmm, so are you actually a staffer for a Labor MLA, or do you just really fail to understand the role of the opposition in a Westminster Democracy? What exactly else should the Liberals be doing if they’re not going to be publicly holding the government to account?

OK, I see you subscribe heavily to the Abominable No-man’s view of opposition. What you seem to be forgetting is the role the opposition plays as an executive-in-waiting, ready to step in if the current executive loses favour or confidence. This is entirely the rationale for the shadow cabinet; it says look at us we can run a responsible government, if you don’t like those turkeys over there were ready to go right now.

Well, the role of the Shadow-Ministry is literally to ‘shadow’ the ministers. That’s where the term comes from. I generally agree that the opposition ought to position itself as a government in waiting, but the weighting of those roles are always going to shift depending on how far we are from an election, and in this case we’re pretty damn far.

snoopydoc said :

Tetranitrate said :

snoopydoc said :

Yes, the hospital is too small for the population it serves… causing access block… causing ED overcrowding… causing prolonged waiting times and increased morbidity and mortality.

Stop pointing to the opposing team and whining about how they screwed it up and if only _you_ were in government it would all magically be so much better.

Give the tiresome petulance a rest and do something useful with your time, authority and other resources, ass-hat.

Hmm, so are you actually a staffer for a Labor MLA, or do you just really fail to understand the role of the opposition in a Westminster Democracy? What exactly else should the Liberals be doing if they’re not going to be publicly holding the government to account?

No, I am not affiliated with the Labor party. Yes, I do understand the Westminster parliamentary system, and its significant flaws. There is, unfortunately, a fine line between the opposition’s role in “holding the government to account” and a simple partisan bitching-fest. Sadly, most comments from both the opposition and government politicians tend to devolve distinctly into the latter category, at the expense of pursuing constructive efforts that might actually improve the situation.

Since allocating blame seems so important to Mr Hanson, he might like to consider the fact that despite Katy Gallagher’s failings as minister for health over the past six years, it was a Liberal government that decided in the 1990’s to demolish Canberra’s primary tertiary public hospital and simultaneously _reduce_ the number of acute inpatient beds at the other major public hospital in the ACT; then Woden Valley Hospital, now TCH. Actively reducing the number of acute hospital beds for a growing, aging, increasingly complex population… awesome decision-making skills, right there.

Are you seriously trying to pin this mess on Carnell? Poor decision or not, the present government has had 11+ years.
But if you want to play that game, maybe I should bring up charred corpses in Duffy and we can both walk down the tunnel to la la land together.

schmeah said :

thatsnotme said :

schmeah said :

Tetranitrate said :

snoopydoc said :

Yes, the hospital is too small for the population it serves… causing access block… causing ED overcrowding… causing prolonged waiting times and increased morbidity and mortality.

Stop pointing to the opposing team and whining about how they screwed it up and if only _you_ were in government it would all magically be so much better.

Give the tiresome petulance a rest and do something useful with your time, authority and other resources, ass-hat.

Hmm, so are you actually a staffer for a Labor MLA, or do you just really fail to understand the role of the opposition in a Westminster Democracy? What exactly else should the Liberals be doing if they’re not going to be publicly holding the government to account?

It would be more believable if at the same time Hanson is singing this song about the appalling state of ACT Health, his counterpart in QLD wasn’t closing every regional base hospital and mobile health service and retrenching every second nurse, paramedic or other ‘non-essential’ staff (or whatever the lingo is) .. can anyone take this media release seriously given that?

How is what happens in QLD remotely relevant to what happens in the ACT? I’d much rather our opposition focused on what the ACT Government is doing, while leaving the QLD opposition to worry about what’s happening up there.

Please, continue living in your fantasy where the Liberals in QLD are unique to Liberals anywhere else. Aside from the fact that their both from the same political cloth and that as a matter of principle, Hanson would most likely defend closing hospitals and services. If you think the Libs (or anyone really) can run a hospital system without fault, than you’re dreaming.

About as relevant as generalising that all Labor pollies are corrupt ex union officials who like to waste public money.

I’m sure I could find an example of a Labor pollie who didn’t fit that description if I looked hard enough.

Tetranitrate said :

Hmm, so are you actually a staffer for a Labor MLA, or do you just really fail to understand the role of the opposition in a Westminster Democracy? What exactly else should the Liberals be doing if they’re not going to be publicly holding the government to account?

OK, I see you subscribe heavily to the Abominable No-man’s view of opposition. What you seem to be forgetting is the role the opposition plays as an executive-in-waiting, ready to step in if the current executive loses favour or confidence. This is entirely the rationale for the shadow cabinet; it says look at us we can run a responsible government, if you don’t like those turkeys over there were ready to go right now.

thatsnotme said :

schmeah said :

Tetranitrate said :

snoopydoc said :

Yes, the hospital is too small for the population it serves… causing access block… causing ED overcrowding… causing prolonged waiting times and increased morbidity and mortality.

Stop pointing to the opposing team and whining about how they screwed it up and if only _you_ were in government it would all magically be so much better.

Give the tiresome petulance a rest and do something useful with your time, authority and other resources, ass-hat.

Hmm, so are you actually a staffer for a Labor MLA, or do you just really fail to understand the role of the opposition in a Westminster Democracy? What exactly else should the Liberals be doing if they’re not going to be publicly holding the government to account?

It would be more believable if at the same time Hanson is singing this song about the appalling state of ACT Health, his counterpart in QLD wasn’t closing every regional base hospital and mobile health service and retrenching every second nurse, paramedic or other ‘non-essential’ staff (or whatever the lingo is) .. can anyone take this media release seriously given that?

How is what happens in QLD remotely relevant to what happens in the ACT? I’d much rather our opposition focused on what the ACT Government is doing, while leaving the QLD opposition to worry about what’s happening up there.

Please, continue living in your fantasy where the Liberals in QLD are unique to Liberals anywhere else. Aside from the fact that their both from the same political cloth and that as a matter of principle, Hanson would most likely defend closing hospitals and services. If you think the Libs (or anyone really) can run a hospital system without fault, than you’re dreaming.

In recent years a clear pattern has emerged in relation to both hospital waiting times and delays in the court process.I’ve always had the belief that if there aren’t enough staff to deal with the demand,regardless of the workplace,then obtain more funding,through whatever means are necessary,to fix the problem.Once again,as i have said previously,i have no issue with paying more tax and neither should others if that’s what it takes to reduce interminable delays that have not been addressed by our Lord Mayor!

schmeah said :

Tetranitrate said :

snoopydoc said :

Yes, the hospital is too small for the population it serves… causing access block… causing ED overcrowding… causing prolonged waiting times and increased morbidity and mortality.

Stop pointing to the opposing team and whining about how they screwed it up and if only _you_ were in government it would all magically be so much better.

Give the tiresome petulance a rest and do something useful with your time, authority and other resources, ass-hat.

Hmm, so are you actually a staffer for a Labor MLA, or do you just really fail to understand the role of the opposition in a Westminster Democracy? What exactly else should the Liberals be doing if they’re not going to be publicly holding the government to account?

It would be more believable if at the same time Hanson is singing this song about the appalling state of ACT Health, his counterpart in QLD wasn’t closing every regional base hospital and mobile health service and retrenching every second nurse, paramedic or other ‘non-essential’ staff (or whatever the lingo is) .. can anyone take this media release seriously given that?

How is what happens in QLD remotely relevant to what happens in the ACT? I’d much rather our opposition focused on what the ACT Government is doing, while leaving the QLD opposition to worry about what’s happening up there.

schmeah said :

Tetranitrate said :

snoopydoc said :

Yes, the hospital is too small for the population it serves… causing access block… causing ED overcrowding… causing prolonged waiting times and increased morbidity and mortality.

Stop pointing to the opposing team and whining about how they screwed it up and if only _you_ were in government it would all magically be so much better.

Give the tiresome petulance a rest and do something useful with your time, authority and other resources, ass-hat.

Hmm, so are you actually a staffer for a Labor MLA, or do you just really fail to understand the role of the opposition in a Westminster Democracy? What exactly else should the Liberals be doing if they’re not going to be publicly holding the government to account?

It would be more believable if at the same time Hanson is singing this song about the appalling state of ACT Health, his counterpart in QLD wasn’t closing every regional base hospital and mobile health service and retrenching every second nurse, paramedic or other ‘non-essential’ staff (or whatever the lingo is) .. can anyone take this media release seriously given that?

His ‘counterpart’ in Queensland would be Jo-Ann Miller, the shadow minister for health who’s no doubt singing a similar tune (presumably “negative, petulant whining” if we were to ask to Snoopydoc) because the government is butchering the health system.