The significant issues surrounding the Health Department's troubled Acacia patient health records system highlights the incompetence of Labor's Opposition Leader, Selena Uibo.
Selena Uibo was both Minister for Health, and Minister for Corporate and Digital Development, when the decision to pause the rollout of Acacia into the Royal Darwin Hospital Emergency Department was taken due to risks to patient safety.
In her Cabinet roles, she was directly responsible for the Acacia system, both from a health and IT perspective.
It has now emerged the budget for the Acacia project blew out by $61 million from $259 million to $320 million.
Minister for Health, Steve Edgington, said: "We now know Selena Uibo was sent a confidential brief on the serious issues surrounding the Acacia system back in January last year when emergency doctors reported the failed system was putting lives at risk."
"That was one year ago, and to this day the Acacia system is still not being used in the Royal Darwin and Palmerston hospital emergency departments while the system is enhanced," he said.
"Despite lives being on the line, Selena Uibo did nothing to sort out this issue in the eight months prior to Labor being turfed from office. In fact, all she did was also leave us with a $280 million overspend in the health budget.
"This is yet another mess the CLP Government is cleaning up from the previous Labor government, and Selena Uibo had her hands all over it as Minister for Health, and Minister for Corporate and Digital Development.
"Further highlighting her lack of credibility and integrity, Selena Uibo on Friday falsely claimed the CLP Government had 'secretly put a stop' to publishing monthly crime statistics.
"Her claims were nothing but baseless lies, and it showed the Opposition Leader and former minister for six years had never once looked at the monthly crime statistics on the NT Police website.
"If she did, she would have known the crime statistics have always been published in arrears to ensure accurate data is presented, but instead Selena Uibo chose to deliberately mislead Territorians with outrageous lies.
"Her failures surrounding the Acacia health system, the overspend for the health budget, and her lies about crime statistics proves she and Labor have learnt nothing since the election."
Mr Edgington said the Acacia system, which first rolled out in 2022, was still in daily use in the Katherine, Gove, Darwin and Palmerston hospitals.
"The Royal Darwin and Palmerston Hospital emergency departments are temporarily operating on the older CareSys system while Acacia is further enhanced," he said.
"Acacia is scheduled to be reimplemented in the Royal Darwin and Palmerston hospital emergency departments in April 2025.
"By mid-2025, all Territory hospitals, including Alice Springs and Tennant Creek, are expected to be using the Acacia system.
"Unlike the previous government who was asleep at the wheel, the Finocchiaro CLP Government will ensure the departments responsible for the Acacia system will be held accountable to ensure no lives are put at risk while the system is enhanced, and then reimplemented.
"Territorians deserve a government who cares about them."
