ACT could seize national moment to improve the health system but voters won't force it

The problems are complex and run deep: not enough money, not enough infrastructure and not enough staff to meet the demand of too many patients in an ageing population.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the territory cannot repair the health system alone. It will take collaboration with the Commonwealth to reform the primary health care system, which in turn will improve the hospital.

Mr Barr has acknowledged there are local issues to be tackled in Canberra's health system, but says the problems are mostly of the national kind.

It is true that an inadequate and often inaccessible primary health care system means patients end up in hospital, which should be the care provider of last resort.

Limits placed on Commonwealth hospital funding have also been part of the reason Canberra's hospitals are stretched.

The problems are clear but the solutions are murkier. More money is certainly part of it. Training medical professionals and keeping them in the system is another element, which can't be achieved through additional funding alone.

Mr Barr has put the onus on the federal government to lead the development of national solutions to what he sees as national problems.

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Health will remain a key talking point into the next territory election, due in a little under two years' time, and the ACT government will need to demonstrate it has a program of continual improvement for the health system.

Being seen to shirk responsibility and lay it at the feet of the federal government would be an ineffective choice for the government.

Leading a national conversation on health system repair would be a clever choice for the ACT government to make, putting the territory at the forefront of any trials, funding changes or pilot programs that might win back the community's faith in the hospital system.

Fortunately for the government and unfortunately for the health system, the opposition has provided no believable alternative, allowing the government to carry on much the same as it had despite growing community frustration with the system.

The Canberra Liberals, by virtue of their name and reputation, have a steeper hill to climb if they want to convince Canberrans they can fix the health system by themselves.

The opposition has done well to highlight the issues. Now what?

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The opposition has not released a concrete plan that shows how it would deliver a northside hospital sooner, attract and retain more trained medical staff or reduce the waiting times in the emergency department. This will need to change in the second half of the government's term if they would like to be elected.

The brandname association between Liberal governments and service cuts - nowhere stronger than in the capital - means the government does not need to present a concrete plan either.

Labor and the Greens know if the community thinks work is being done to improve the system, they will be ahead of the opposition in the minds of anyone who cares to vote on the basis of the health.

Perhaps the stagnation of improvements to the health system in Canberra is a result its performance has never put the government under real electoral threat.

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