Rachel Stephen-Smith hits back at Leanne Castley

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith has accused Liberal MLA Leanne Castley of being “deliberately misinformed” about Canberra’s health system. Watch the video here.

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen Smith has accused Liberal MLA Leanne Castley of being “deliberately misinformed” about Canberra’s health system amid controversy surrounding patients being moved from hospitals to aged care centres.

On Thursday Ms Castley said aged care settings were the “last place” the government should be moving patients to.

“Aged care staff are not trained to look after hospital patients, it is completely inappropriate and irresponsible,” Ms Castley said.

“We know aged care is in crisis and this is nothing more than a desperate government shifting responsibility for patients in its care, and saying they are no longer our responsibility.

“(Ms Stephen-Smith) has provided no information about what supports are being provided to aged care homes which are under enormous pressure.

“To palm them off to aged care is atrocious when this mess is all the government’s making due to their failure to properly fund and manage our health system.

“If the government considers aged care appropriate now, why hasn’t this been done before?”

Health minister Rachel Stephen Smith has called on Leanne Castley to call her, rather than ask questions through the media. Picture: Julia Kanapathippillai.

Speaking to the press on Thursday, Ms Stephen Smith accused Ms Castley of scaremongering and said the patients that had been moved out of Canberra Hospital into aged care were medically healthy.

“She is taking the strategy of being deliberately misinformed and (is) misinforming Canberrans,” she said.

“I would encourage her if she wants to understand what’s going on, instead of asking questions through the media, give me a call.

“We’ll be happy to tell her what’s going on.”

Ms Stephen-Smith said keeping well people in hospital could be harmful for their health.

“People who are medically well should not be in hospitals,” she said.

“Hospital is not the best place for them to be; they become deconditioned and they risk acquiring hospital acquired infections.

“Our team has been working with aged care facilities who have the capacity to take people who are medically well.

“I want to emphasise these are not Covid-19 patients.

“These are people who are medically well, who no longer require acute hospital care and for whom a residential aged care facility is a more appropriate setting.”