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Speaker 1: Steve Edgington, the Health Minister, is on the line. Good

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Speaker 1: morning to you, Steve, Good.

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Speaker 2: Morning Katie, and good morning to all listeners.

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Speaker 1: Now I know you've got a busy morning ahead with

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Speaker 1: Parliament sitting, but well, Minister, we've seen that another section

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Speaker 1: of brick wall we're being told at Royal Darwin Hospital

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Speaker 1: requires investigation after one area already collapsed as we all

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Speaker 1: know during the cyclone. So photos show this brick wall

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Speaker 1: bulging and the Department of Infrastructure saying that they've isolated

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Speaker 1: the area as a safety precaution. What's the go with

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Speaker 1: this second area of the wall at the hospital.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well that's correct, Katie. There has been a second

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Speaker 2: section identified that is being investigated at the moment, but

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Speaker 2: as you said, that area has been isolated, there has

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Speaker 2: been precautions put in place. What we do want to

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Speaker 2: make sure is that everybody is safe, whether they're visitors, patients, staff,

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Speaker 2: all of our frontline workers. We want to ensure that

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Speaker 2: everybody is safe in that area. But yes, we want

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Speaker 2: to carry through with that investigation, but make sure everything

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Speaker 2: is safe for everybody. And some of that work will

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Speaker 2: continue today and we're hoping to have people on site

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Speaker 2: tomorrow that will take further action regarding the damage that's

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Speaker 2: already there, Steve.

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Speaker 1: Earlier in the week we heard from the general manager

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Speaker 1: of the hospital who said that sixteen beds had sort

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Speaker 1: of been I can't think of the right wording, but

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Speaker 1: taken out of action. I guess as a result of

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Speaker 1: the initial instance of these bricks falling that we saw

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Speaker 1: on the weekend. What's the go as of today, I mean,

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Speaker 1: if we still got beds that are not able to

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Speaker 1: be used as a result of this situation.

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Speaker 2: No, all beds are being used, Katie. There was some

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Speaker 2: minor disruption, and there was some minor disruption two day

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Speaker 2: surgery as well, but everything is back on schedule and

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Speaker 2: at his business as usual. There has been some minor

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Speaker 2: modifications at the hospital to ensure that there's a clear

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Speaker 2: passage around that damaged area.

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Speaker 1: Steve, there is no doubt you and I literally spoke

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Speaker 1: about this last week. The week prior, I'd spoken to

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Speaker 1: your chief executive of the Department of Health about the

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Speaker 1: fact that we need to start planning for a new hospital.

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Speaker 1: How badly does this situation actually highlight the fact that

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Speaker 1: we need to really get that planning underway sooner? Rather

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Speaker 1: than later.

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Speaker 2: Well, the planning has already commenced, and you know, as

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Speaker 2: a chief executive said, and I've previously said, we have

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Speaker 2: done some pre planning and we are looking at what

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Speaker 2: the short term long term model looks like. So there

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Speaker 2: has been some planning. But to plan for a new

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Speaker 2: hospital requires a bit more than a conversation and putting

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Speaker 2: some words on a paper. Does require investigating what the

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Speaker 2: current situation is with the current hospital, where would a

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Speaker 2: new site be, what are the costings, and what would

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Speaker 2: the new hospital look like. So this requires some very

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Speaker 2: careful planning over a period of time to get to

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Speaker 2: that stage where we may or may not need a

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Speaker 2: new hospital. When what I say, may not need to

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Speaker 2: there are options that we would certainly consider whether we

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Speaker 2: need a whole new hospital or of course one of

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Speaker 2: the options is to build onto the Palmston Hospital. These

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Speaker 2: are things that we need to investigate and look into

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Speaker 2: very carefully before we make any final decisions.

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Speaker 1: At the moment though, we can't even staff the Palmerston Hospital.

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Speaker 1: So how we get to a point where we're able to,

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Speaker 1: you know, for itak to be our tertiary hospital.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's a couple of things that could happen. And

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Speaker 2: you know, we're building onto the current roil day on

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Speaker 2: hospital at the moment with a new mental health ward

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Speaker 2: and the thirty two bed ward going on at the

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Speaker 2: side of the hospital at the moment. What we need

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Speaker 2: to think about is any future new construction, where should

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Speaker 2: that be. Should we be either delaying that in preparation

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Speaker 2: for a new hospital, or should we be moving any

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Speaker 2: new new works to the Parmeston Hospital and gradually build

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Speaker 2: that new hospital. These are the things that need to

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Speaker 2: be considered very carefully. So you know, and I can't

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Speaker 2: commit to either option, but there are a range of

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Speaker 2: options that we need to investigate.

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Speaker 1: And it's the reason we can't sort of commit is

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Speaker 1: because you don't know how much money you're going to have.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we're all ready so under the pump when

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Speaker 1: it comes to the funding of our health system.

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Speaker 2: Well, and that's exactly right. There's a whole lot of

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Speaker 2: things that we need to look at. And as you said,

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Speaker 2: we're under the pump. We're two hundred million dollars short

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Speaker 2: when it comes to the National Health Reform Agreement, and

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Speaker 2: we're a further two hundred short when it comes to

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Speaker 2: things like age care, running the care Flight contract, and

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Speaker 2: of course we're still ninety five million short in primary care,

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Speaker 2: so we're four hundred million dollars behind. What we do

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Speaker 2: need is the federal government to work with us. As

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Speaker 2: I said, we want to negotiate in good faith. We

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Speaker 2: want to see what territory is entitled to. What we

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Speaker 2: want to see is equity and equality in the health

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Speaker 2: services here in the Northern Territory when you look at

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Speaker 2: the funding that the Eastern States are getting at the moment.

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Speaker 1: So, Steve Edgington, are you guys in a situation at

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Speaker 1: the moment, and are our you know, are our health

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Speaker 1: department staff in a situation at the moment where you're

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Speaker 1: already having those discussions with the feds.

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Speaker 2: Look in regard to a new hospital where we haven't

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Speaker 2: gone right down that path at the moment. There's some

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Speaker 2: work that we need to do first before we can

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Speaker 2: approach the FEDS and all of those things that you

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Speaker 2: just spoke about, what's really needed, what location, and of

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Speaker 2: course the dollar situation as well. So no, we haven't

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Speaker 2: formally put anything to the federal government. What we need

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Speaker 2: to do is do our homework first so that we're

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Speaker 2: in a position to have a sensible conversation about it.

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Speaker 1: How long do you reckon that'll take? Are we expecting

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Speaker 1: that to happen over the next couple of months.

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Speaker 2: Well, the work, as I said, has already briefly begun

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Speaker 2: and that commenced a few months ago. But there is

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Speaker 2: a lot more work to do when it comes to

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Speaker 2: identifying exactly what is needed, what would a new hospital

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Speaker 2: look like, what services need to be delivered over and

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Speaker 2: above what we have at the moment. So it could

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Speaker 2: be some time before in a position to formally approach

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Speaker 2: the federal.

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Speaker 1: Government, Minister, I know you for time. The BDO extensions

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Speaker 1: were announced yesterday, so they essentially if you get a

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Speaker 1: band drink or order and you go on the BDR

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Speaker 1: you now go from not just seven days to twenty eight.

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Speaker 1: Is that correct? Are there going to be programs to

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Speaker 1: support this to try and make sure that you know

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Speaker 1: it's a stop like if it is sort of going

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Speaker 1: to be a stopgap for a problem drinker, can they

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Speaker 1: get on a program maybe throughout that time to really

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Speaker 1: try to get off the booze?

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Speaker 2: Well, this is real where the real opportunity is. We've

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Speaker 2: spoken with the police, and of course I think a

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Speaker 2: lot of people know this already, but seven days is

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Speaker 2: really not enough time for a person to engage and

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Speaker 2: consider their options when it comes to therapeutic programs, and

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Speaker 2: what we want to ensure is that twenty eight days

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Speaker 2: will provide that opportunity for any person that has a

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Speaker 2: band drink or order in place to access therapeutic programs

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Speaker 2: to address the problems that they may have when it

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Speaker 2: comes to drinking. What we do want to make sure

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Speaker 2: is that not only are we reducing the level of violence,

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Speaker 2: but we need to look at how we can prevent

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Speaker 2: that over the longer term. So this is part of

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Speaker 2: a package where it'll give police additional powers to put

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Speaker 2: somebody on the BDR from seven till twenty eight days.

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Speaker 2: But at the same time, we want to make sure

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Speaker 2: there's sufficient time for people to identify that they have

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Speaker 2: a problem and access the programs that are available.

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Speaker 1: So those programs still sort of going to be Are

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Speaker 1: you going to have to nominate yourself to get into

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Speaker 1: one of those programs.

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Speaker 2: At this stage, Yes, they are. That part of it

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Speaker 2: is voluntary, but you know there are further band drinker

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Speaker 2: orders that can amount to after the twenty eight day

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Speaker 2: and there's a three month six month further extension on

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Speaker 2: those should that behavior continue. But there are ways to

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Speaker 2: get off the band drinker register, and the way to

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Speaker 2: get off the band drinker Register is to show that

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Speaker 2: you have completed the program and that your alcohol problem

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Speaker 2: is on a pathway to a Dicovery.

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Speaker 1: Well, Steve Edgington, the Minister for Health, really appreciate your

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Speaker 1: time this morning. Thanks so much for having a chat

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Speaker 1: with me.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Coatie, good morning too.

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Speaker 1: Thank you