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

The state of health services in my region is woeful. The Caboolture Hospital is the only health service in the region providing 24-hour care and it is simply not keeping up with the demand. I have spoken many times about the need for increased health services in our region. My electorate is one of the fastest growing regions in the country and our community has every right to expect adequate access to quality health services. Yet my office is contacted daily by people who have waited hours in the emergency department at Caboolture Hospital—people who are older, people with babies and people with mental illness. It is simply not good enough. Access to affordable health care is required, and required urgently, in order to relieve the pressure on the public health system.

I am looking forward to speaking in the debate about the reduction in the private health insurance rebate legislation. I am looking forward to speaking in more detail about the detrimental effect this policy decision by this Labor government will have on the hard-working Australians in my community. People need choice. It is this choice that is being denied through a series of woeful ideologically driven policy decisions made by successive state and federal Labor governments. The decisions being made on George Street in Brisbane and here in this place are not helping my community access the health care they need. In fact, they are making it much worse.

My community has directly raised their concerns about health with me at many public forums and listening posts I have regularly held around my electorate and with my office. I undertook to bring the concerns of my community to Canberra and I am keeping that promise by raising these issues again today. Most of the issues raised relate to the shortcomings of the Caboolture Hospital. My community is full of admiration for the great work that the doctors and nurses at the hospital do. However, they understand that they are under-resourced. Waiting times, unrealistic nursing workloads, insufficient funding, the services available to mental health patients, hospital administration and an onerous bureaucratic system are matters that are continually raised with me.

As I have mentioned before, the Department of Health and Ageing predicts that by 2026 this region's population is expected to reach some 200,000 people. Our region is a great place to live and people want to come here. We want to encourage that; we want to encourage growth. We want our community to be an attractive place to live. However, the services we have available need to keep up with the fast pace of growth. At present there are 187 beds available at 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 states that last year the Caboolture Hospital 'operated on average at over 100 per cent occupancy, showing significant overstressing of capacity'. A safe occupancy rate is on average only 85 per cent. It is clear that even now the Caboolture Hospital is unable to cope with current population demands on its services. This needs to be redressed immediately.

It is in the context of being committed to the improvement of access to health services in my community that I would like to provide in principle support for the establishment of a small primary care facility on Bribie Island. It is great to support a community driven solution to a community problem. I wish to share a story about some locals who are taking action into their own hands. I was recently contacted by an organisation that is seeking to establish a facility that will provide a range of services. These services include the provision of day surgical applications, such as that for skin lesions; a wound management clinic; palliative care services through cooperative relationships with community groups and/or the Metro North Brisbane Medicare Local; rehabilitation services; short-term, acute care monitored by local GPs; and, most importantly, after-hours care.

I am happy to support a service designed to increase the access of the community of Longman to medical services. On Bribie Island in particular, there are many elderly people who would benefit from such a service. The drive from Bribie Island to Caboolture Hospital takes approximately 30 minutes. I am sure that many residents of the island would be reassured by having access to such care closer to home. I am pleased to hear about the initiatives of locals. No doubt, this will be a fantastic service to our community. Our local community desperately needs better health services, and we need to start planning for the future now.