Mater Public Health Services Act 2008

This Act may be cited as the Mater Public Health Services Act 2008.

This Act commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation.

The main object of this Act is to provide a statutory framework for the department and the Mater to enter into arrangements (the arrangements) about the delivery of public patient health services by the Mater hospitals and their funding.

It is Parliament’s intention that the arrangements—

recognise the major contribution made by the Mater and the Corporation of the Trustees of the Order of the Sisters of Mercy of Queensland to the delivery of public patient health services; and

take account of the quantity and quality of public patient health services delivered by the Mater hospitals by—

maintaining funding for the services while ensuring the most efficient and effective use of the funding; and

maintaining the clinical viability of delivering the services as part of all the health services delivered by the Mater hospitals; and

recognise the value of the Mater hospitals as teaching hospitals; and

have regard to the corporate governance and public accountability requirements of the department and the Mater.

The principles intended to guide the achievement of this Act’s main object include the following—

the department and the Mater should use their best endeavours to ensure that public patient health services are funded and delivered in a way that serves the best interests of patients receiving the services;

the department and the Mater should be committed to maintaining and enhancing a special relationship for giving effect to the arrangements;

the philosophy underpinning the delivery of health services by the Mater hospitals should be acknowledged;

the delivery of public patient health services by the Mater hospitals should be funded by the State in a way that is consistent with the funding of public sector health services;

the Mater, and not the department, is responsible for the delivery of public patient health services by the Mater hospitals;

the department and the Mater should cooperate in the development of the department’s plan and key initiatives relating to the delivery of public patient health services by the Mater hospitals.

The dictionary in the schedule defines particular words used in this Act.

The chief executive, acting on behalf of the State, and the Mater may enter into an agreement for the arrangements.

The agreement may include matters relating to the following—

the period of the agreement;

reviewing and varying the agreement;

the department’s obligation to allocate funds to the Mater for the delivery of public patient health services by the Mater hospitals;

details of the department’s funding allocation to the Mater for each financial year;

providing extraordinary or emergency funding by the department to the Mater;

Example of extraordinary funding—

funding for capital works

initiatives, performance targets, priorities, strategies, undertakings and other measures (the measures) relating to the delivery of the services;

the Mater’s obligations to deliver the services under the measures;

assessing the Mater’s performance against the measures;

the rights and obligations of the department and the Mater relating to matters of privacy and access to medical records;

reporting by the Mater to the department about the delivery of the services;

resolving disputes between the department and the Mater.

Subsection (2) does not limit the matters that may be included in the agreement.

A regulation may prescribe matters that must be included in the agreement relating to the funding that the department must provide for the purpose of staff entitlements.

In this part—

confidential information see the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011, schedule 2.

designated person see the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011, schedule 2.

health professional see the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011, schedule 2.

officer, of the Mater, means an employee of the Mater, or a health professional engaged to deliver a health service by a Mater hospital.

personal information, about an individual, means information or an opinion, whether true or not, about the individual from which the individual’s identity is apparent or can reasonably be ascertained.

A designated person may disclose confidential information about an individual to a health professional engaged to deliver a public patient health service for a Mater hospital if the disclosure is for the care or treatment of the individual.

An officer of the Mater may disclose personal information about an individual who is or was a patient of a Mater hospital to a health professional engaged to deliver a public sector health service on behalf of the department if the disclosure is for the care or treatment of the individual.

The existing agreement—

is taken to have been made under section 6; and

continues in force until it expires under its terms or is otherwise terminated.

The annual agreement continues in force until it expires under its terms or is otherwise terminated.

In this section—

annual agreement means the agreement, made under clause 7 of the existing agreement as in force immediately before the commencement and includes that agreement as subsequently varied.

commencement means the commencement of this section.

existing agreement means the Mater Hospital Funding Agreement made between the State and the Mater on 16 December 2002 as in force immediately before the commencement and includes that agreement as subsequently varied.