Ms STEPHANIE DI PASQUA (Drummoyne) (17:53): Last week I spoke at length in this Chamber about problems facing Concord Hospital. This issue matters immensely to my community. We deserve a thriving health service that can cope with population pressures and is futureproofed and funded well. Concord Hospital is the jewel in the crown of our community. The staff are amazing and deserve all our gratitude. The Minns Labor Government has still not committed to the major next stage that Concord Hospital needs. That is the central issue. The Government cannot approve massive population growth—more than 60,000 new homes are coming in the next 15 years—and forget about the hospital that has to care for the people living there today and the thousands more coming under Labor's density changes. Where are the extra beds? Where is the new emergency department? Where is the expanded intensive care capacity?
Even worse than not planning for the future, the Government is taking away the services we have now and proposing to close Concord Fire Station. Last year, under Labor's watch, emergency gynaecological care for women was closed at Concord Hospital. The Government cannot build a bigger community but have a smaller health service. It certainly should not reduce access to women's emergency services while the number of women and families living in our community continues to grow. I want emergency gynaecological capability restored at Concord Hospital. Women deserve emergency health care close to home. A woman experiencing an ectopic pregnancy, serious bleeding or another urgent condition should not have to wonder whether she will be transferred across Sydney to Canterbury, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital or somewhere else because there is no specialist emergency care at Concord Hospital.
If registrar coverage is the problem, fund a registrar. If more theatre time is needed, provide it. If another specialist is needed, employ that specialist. Tell the community what is required to get the service running. The Government should be transparent with us. Doctors, nurses and health workers deserve a hospital with the resources to do their jobs. I am not blaming the doctors, nurses or staff working on the front line. They are working under enormous pressure. But the Government, NSW Health and the leadership responsible for Sydney Local Health District are all on notice.
The independent Auditor-General is now examining governance at Concord Hospital, and I welcome that investigation. That investigation is happening because there was a threat of a vote of no confidence from the medical staff council. That sequence of events raises a question: Why did it take the prospect of such an extraordinary vote of no confidence by clinicians for those concerns to receive attention? The Auditor-General's investigation must shine a torch on the executive and the leadership problems within the Sydney Local Health District. It must be thorough and independent. Health staff must know that if they stand up and speak honestly about patient care, they will be supported, not punished. Good staff should be heard. Problems should be fixed. When health workers speak up, we should listen.
On 19 August The Sydney Morning Herald reported on a prominent neurosurgeon at Concord who criticised hospital management on LinkedIn. According to that report, he is suspended without pay and faces disciplinary action. I will not prejudge that process, but that situation should concern all of us. Public hospitals need experienced specialists. I am not an expert, but I would have thought that Concord needs all the neurosurgeons it can get. Concord needs to have a culture where clinicians can raise concerns about patient care and management decisions without fearing that speaking up will cost them their careers and their livelihoods. Right now, if someone speaks up, the health district will punish them. A suspension is a serious step. A disciplinary process must be fair, transparent and based on evidence. Management cannot answer criticism by closing ranks.
A health system that frightens good people into silence will lose good people. It will lose good doctors. When doctors are pushed away, patients and communities pay the price. I support a parliamentary inquiry into NSW Health and will do everything in my power to get one across the line. If we confront the problems honestly and fix them, we will build a better health system. Health workers have raised concerns about being treated appallingly by local health district executives who appear more interested in exercising power than listening to the good clinicians working at the hospital. That culture must stop. Leadership should support staff, not intimidate them. Accountability must protect patient care. I support everything happening at Concord Hospital and welcome the independent investigation.
Mr ANOULACK CHANTHIVONG (Macquarie Fields—Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology, Minister for Building, and Minister for Corrections) (17:58): In response to the member for Drummoyne, the health system has no better friend than the Minns Labor Government. It took the Minns Labor Government to remove the wages cap and recruit 950 more nurses, in addition to the 6,700 nurses we have hired over three years. Recruitment for those nurses will begin in the coming weeks. That shows we value the work of nurses and we recognise they take care of everyone in New South Wales. They are our friends, our family and our neighbours. This is what a good health system is about. The Minns Labor Government delivered safe staffing ratios, making sure that our patients are looked after and our healthcare workers deliver better health care for New South Wales. I reject the statements made by the member for Drummoyne. Only this Minns Labor Government continues to deliver better health care for New South Wales.
