Dr WOODRUFF question to MINISTER for HEALTH, MENTAL HEALTH and WELLBEING, Mrs ARCHER
[11.01 a.m.]
In my time in parliament, I’m struggling to remember a time when I’ve heard a Health minister respond to a serious question from a member about patient concerns that have been raised with us with such an angry response. I suggest that you might consider –
Members interjecting.
The SPEAKER – Order, members to my right, I ask that the honourable Leader of the Greens be heard. You may not agree with her questions; there are other forms of the House you can use.
Mr ABETZ – Point of order, if I may, Speaker –
The SPEAKER – Sorry, Leader of the Greens. We will stop the clock, please.
Dr Broad – What’s your point of order?
Mr ABETZ – You’ll hear my point of order, if you allow me.
Members interjecting.
Mr ABETZ – Mr Ellis, was called up on the basis of the term ‘carry-on’ –
Ms Finlay – What’s the Standing Order?
Mr ABETZ – Asserting that a minister is angry, I would have thought, is worse and needs to be withdrawn.
The SPEAKER – Order. Thank you, Leader of the House. Minister Ellis actually framed his words in a different manner. The honourable Leader of the Greens can resume her question, please, because it is –
Dr WOODRUFF – I think I had a few more seconds on that.
The SPEAKER – Yes, we’ll start the clock again.
Dr WOODRUFF – Honourable Speaker, the question was about the angry dismissiveness that the minister showed the member in asking the question about taxis being used instead of ambulances for 000 call-outs. I believe the minister owes an apology to Tasmanians who have shown concerns about this, after not taking the question seriously. I’ll ask her again: will you respond to Ms Rosol’s question about whether you will consider committing funding for Ambulance Tasmania and recruitment of paramedics so that patients don’t have to be bundled into taxis without proper medical support present? Will you tell us whether an audit has been conducted and whether referrals have been crosschecked to ensure that they arrived safely in a state that supported taxi dispatch, as occurs in other states?
ANSWER
Honourable Speaker, I thank the member for her question. I would not characterise my response as ‘angry’ and I apologise if it was taken in that way. It is reasonable to say, however, that I don’t think it is fair to characterise this issue in this way. I don’t think it is fair to the dedicated and specialist clinicians who respond to these calls and make clinical judgments, as I said. The responses to those calls are triaged and clinically appropriate, and the patients are safe when they are sent. We shouldn’t undermine that. We shouldn’t undermine that system or the judgement of those clinicians. It is safe and appropriate and it has been deemed to have been safe and appropriate in the circumstances you described.
Supplementary Question
Dr WOODRUFF – I thank the minister for her answer. Ms Rosol did mention the amazing triage staff in her initial question. My supplementary question is: I asked you whether you would provide us information about whether there have been audits done to crosscheck to ensure that people who arrived by taxi arrived safely in a state that supported the dispatch, as occurs in other states, such as Victoria.
Mrs ARCHER – I’m happy to take that part of your question on notice, but I will reiterate that I will make no apology for backing our Ambulance Tasmania staff, the work they do and the clinical judgement they display.
