Health is one of the sharpest thorns in the side of the ACT government.
Hospital waiting times are long, culture problems among staff are rife, training accreditation has been in the spotlight and access to general practitioners is poor. The list goes on.
It has offered the opposition plenty of material with which to attack a long-standing Labor-led government.
But as the election looms, the Canberra Liberals have needed to put up workable alternatives to Labor's plans to improve the system.
How can the opposition turn around a system they have spent so many years criticising?
Labor is also trying to present itself as a government that can deliver a great health system. But is that really possible when they have overseen so many issues after a record time in office?
Hospital takeover missing from the campaign
The Liberals announced their signature health policy of holding a royal commission into the territory's health system back in early 2023.
A royal commission into the health system could properly explore the issues but the Liberals risk this being seen as a get-out-of-jail-free card policy, especially if they don't implement any changes until the completion of a commission.
However, the Liberals could not have predicted what would happen only a week after announcing their royal commission plans. The ACT government revealed they would take over Calvary Bruce Public Hospital.
The takeover of the hospital ran by a Catholic health organisation is one of the most significant events from the 10th Assembly - and, arguably, since self government - but more than a year on these events have barely featured in the election campaign.
While the Liberals under the then-acting opposition leader Jeremy Hanson prosecuted the case against the takeover very strongly, Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee has not mentioned it.
But Labor also hasn't pointed to the compulsory acquisition to reinforce its campaign. Given the national outrage - mostly from the Catholic Church and right-wing media - it is probably one thing they want to avoid. On a territory level, the takeover was fairly well accepted from voters on both sides so Labor could use this but have decided not to.
Different approaches to general practitioners
The opposition has clearly positioned itself over the past year as being on the side of general practitioners. Ms Lee has spoken strongly against the implementation of payroll tax on general practices. It has been a frequent fixture within question time.
The tax has been imposed on general practices since a NSW Supreme Court ruled they were subject to the tax last year. General practices with a payroll higher than $2 million have to pay the tax although the ACT government won't apply the tax to general practices until next year if they bulk bill at least 65 per cent of all patients.
The Liberals are promising to scrap the tax for general practices if elected.
They have also made some other promises for general practitioners, including paying $100,000 towards the HECS debt for 30 medical students if they commit to being a GP in the ACT for five years.
They would also introduce doctors into four new walk-in centres, expanding on the ACT's nurse-led model.
Labor has been very protective of the nurse-led walk-in centres. Any calls to review the centres, which have not been reviewed since 2011, are dismissed by the party as simply attempts to put them at risk.
Labor's policies for general practice include a $11 million fund to provide money to encourage bulk-billing practices to open in the ACT, to existing bulk-billing clinics to expand and for general practices that commit to bulk billing children.
They would also develop a separate $4 million fund to support the wellbeing of the workforce and to fund research, education and professional development initiatives.
But out on the margins is the ACT Greens who have presented a bold plan to establish four government-run bulk billing general practices in the territory.
Under the Greens' plan doctors would be able to register to work at the government practices on the condition all appointments are bulk billed.
The Greens have made some ambitious health policies during the campaign but it stands in contrast to the rest of the term.
During the opposition's many health motions, the Greens supported Labor on every one. There wasn't even a sign of division and hurried backroom deals like there were in other issues such as housing.
The Greens did hold the mental health portfolio, Emma Davidson is the minister, which was plagued with issues including a board of inquiry into the Dhulwa Mental Health Unit and patient record leaks. So perhaps the Greens were taking an approach of not throwing stones at glass houses in this case.
Hospital culture and staffing promises
Canberra Hospital has been the centre of many controversies and a shiny new hospital, which opened in August, is simply not going to be enough to shake this image.
Poor culture has pervaded the hospital for many years, especially in wards like cardiology and the intensive care unit.
Training accreditation for junior doctors has also been lost or at-risk for a number of wards, including orthopaedics, obstetrics and gynaecology, fetal medicine and plastics.
The territory has also recorded the nation's longest emergency department waiting times and blow outs in elective surgery waiting lists. While emergency department wait times have shown signs of improvements the long wait times are hard to escape.
A lot of the issues in the hospital have also stemmed from staffing shortages. Labor's plan is to employ an extra 800 health workers.
They have not provided a breakdown for the workers but have already promised extra nurses, midwives, specialists and allied health staff.
Labor consistently points to staffing shortages across the nation but doctors say the territory's reputation has contributed to health workers not wanting to work here.
The Liberals have not made any promises around extra health workers but bizarrely they have attacked Labor on the cost of this promise.
Labor has not submitted a specific costing request for the extra staff, and instead pointed to separate policy costings and the ACT budget. The Liberals have claimed the staff boost could cost the territory more than $200 million a year.
While that is a significant amount of money, many would view it as money worth spending.
The Liberals' staff-targeted initiatives have been focused around more training and education time.
They have also promised to pay doctors what they are owed, but have not committed to whether a Liberal government would offer the pay rise being asked by doctors.
Nearly 300 public hospital doctors have taken industrial action in recent weeks by refusing to do tasks such as not answering calls outside rostered hours and certain administrative duties.
Enterprise bargaining negotiations with doctors will continue once the new government is elected.
Few voters would disagree with the notion the health system is important and ought to be improved. But if their minds are made up on the basis of health policy, the differences are between the means rather than the ends.
The Canberra Liberals are effectively promising a root-and-branch review and piecemeal changes. The opposition offers no dramatically different overall vision for the system.
Labor's approach is business as usual, but its small achieved improvements are outweighed by the steadfast problems governments appear unable to shake.
When it comes to health, big issues linger and a government of either persuasion will find these hard to overcome.
