Canberra Hospital, Canberra
On Wednesday 16 September 2009, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, and Chair of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, Dr Christine Bennett, held a health consultation at Canberra Hospital.
The consultation was attended by 140 medical professionals including representatives ofthe AMA, the Committee of Presidents of Medical Colleges and Medical Deans.
Also attending were representatives from ACT Health, Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations, local GPs and other specialists, and hospital staff.
The major issues discussed included the importance of comprehensive primary health care service delivery, the development and role of the e-health record, workforce shortages and the importance of a focus on secondary prevention.
The importance of all parts of the health system operating in concert to achieve better clinical outcomes for patients was emphasised.
Prior to the consultation, Prime Minister Rudd, Minister Roxon and ACT Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Health Katy Gallagher officially opened two specialty operating theatres at the hospital.
Pictures from the event
 Enlarge imagePrime Minister Rudd addresses the audience at Canberra Hospital, outlining the key components of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission report. |
 Enlarge imageMinister Roxon addressing the audience at the Canberra Hospital consultation. |
 Enlarge image(l-r) Minister Roxon, Deputy Chief Minister and ACT Health Minister Katy Gallagher with Prime Minister Rudd and Professor Guan Chong, Professor of Surgical Network at the Australian National University and Head of the ACT Health Surgical Network, cut the ribbon opening the new specialty operating theatre at Canberra Hospital. |
 Enlarge imageMinister Roxon, (l-r) with Senator Kate Lundy, ACT Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister Katy Gallagher, Prime Minister Rudd, and Professor Guan Chong at the opening of the new Canberra Hospital facilities. |
 Enlarge imagePrime Minister Rudd with staff in the new operating theatre. |
 Enlarge imagePrime Minister Rudd inspects equipment in the new operating facilities. |
| Videos from the event |
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 IanIan talks about the importance of moving primary care to more of a super clinic model supported by e-health records. |
 LeonieLeonie says reforming the health system will involve overcoming numerous barriers, including differences in the approaches used by clinicians and policymakers, differences between State and Commonwealth funding, and differences between service providers. |
 AnnetteAnnette says there’s tremendous potential to reform the nursing workforce, improve the coordination between education and training and the workplace, and develop new models of care. She says it is a “scary”, but exciting time to be in nursing. |
 DougDoug says primary health care information systems are so different that it’s like the “olden days” in Australia when all the railway gauges were different – trains can’t go from one State to another. |
 AnneAnne wishes more attention could be paid to social determinants of health, whereby people show physical symptoms from homelessness, unemployment, or association with criminals. |
| Events |
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CloncurryThe Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Services Delivery, Warren Snowdon, held a roundtable discussion on health reform at Cloncurry in Northern Queensland on Wednesday 27 January 2010. |
ACTU MelbourneParliamentary Secretary Mark Butler hosted a health consultation on Thursday 28 January 2010 at the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) offices in Melbourne. |
Mount Isa Base Hospital, Mount IsaOn Wednesday 27 January 2010, the Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Services Delivery, Warren Snowdon, held a health reform consultation at Mount Isa Base Hospital, in North Western Queensland. |
The implementation plan provides details of implementation activities over coming months and years, including timelines and major milestones to implement the major health reform agreed by COAG in April 2010.
On 19 and 20 April 2010, an historic agreement was reached by the Council of Australian Governments, except Western Australia, to the establishment of a National Health and Hospitals Network.