This week the 100,000th Canberran was tested for COVID-19 by the nurses who have worked tirelessly to support our community during this pandemic.
They have been at our testing facilities across the city for months – working to identify cases of COVID-19 in the Territory.
Canberrans rely on our health system to be there when they need it, and ACT Labor is committed to investing in a system that delivers better healthcare closer to home.
A re-elected Labor Government will hire at least 400 new nurses, doctors and healthcare professionals to provide more healthcare services as our city grows.
This will include more than 200 new nurses, and more than 150 clinical staff including specialists and registrars.
Many of the additional frontline staff will work in our bigger, better Canberra Hospital following the hospital Expansion – the largest healthcare infrastructure project since self-government.
These new healthcare professionals will also work in our new expanded network of walk-in health centres. The new centres will build on our successful nurse-led walk-in centres and community health centres in strategic locations across the city.
Canberrans have embraced our nurse-led walk-in centres and under a Labor Government, more injuries and illnesses will be treated by employing a nurse-practitioners at every centre.
ACT Labor will also establish an outpatient imaging service at Weston Creek Walk-in Centre with CT, ultrasound and X-ray capabilities.
We will deliver around 60,000 elective surgeries and more outpatients procedures at Canberra and Calvary Hospital, and we will expand health infrastructure in Canberra’s North with a new elective surgery centre at the University of Canberra Hospital precinct.
In this campaign, ACT Labor has committed to establishing a Centre for Excellence in Caring for Older People at Calvary Hospital, expanding the inpatient capacity in addition to outreach programs. A second hydrotherapy pool will be built in Canberra’s south under a Labor Government.
We know that many young people are suffering as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s why we will invest more to support young Canberrans experiencing mental illness, increasing our total mental health funding to over $200 million a year.
Most importantly, a re-elected ACT Labor team will continue to take the advice from public health experts on how we can continue to effectively respond to the threat of COVID-19.
We know that the pandemic isn’t over, and there is more to do to keep our city COVID safe.
But ACT Labor has the right plan to invest in Canberrans and lead our city through the pandemic.