FLINDERS MEDICAL CENTRE REDEVELOPMENT

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:00): Can the Minister for Health confirm whether his department plans to merge two units at the Flinders Medical Centre, resulting in a loss of beds that service the emergency department? Staff at the Flinders Medical Centre have been advised that an 18-bed ward and a 16-bed ward servicing acute assessment and short stay medical units will be merged into one ward of 28 beds. Further, they have been advised that the 28-bed elective surgery ward will be moved into the vacant 18-bed ward, resulting in a net loss of 10 elective surgery beds and six acute assessment beds. Staff also have been advised that the closures and mergers are to be kept quiet until after Saturday's federal election.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (15:01): The muckraker strikes again! The $153.68 million Flinders Medical Centre redevelopment project will provide that hospital with the physical capacity to appropriately manage clinical service demands in the southern suburbs. That project includes a three-level south wing linked to the existing building; 12 new state-of-the-art operating theatres, including recovery, staff change rooms, seminar rooms and offices; a new day surgery unit, including a second stage recovery area; an expanded intensive and critical care unit, taking to 32 the total number of ICCU beds; a new cardiac care unit; an expanded and redeveloped emergency department, including 21 additional treatment cubicles to cater for an extra 14,000 people seeking treatment every year; a new acute assessment unit with an extra 17 beds; and a major engineering plant upgrade. Environmental benefits include a 16 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a 20 per cent reduction in water usage.

Construction works are programmed to commence in January next year and to be completed in September 2011. The three-storey new south wing will house the obstetrics and gynaecological ward on level 4; the labour and delivery ward and the birth centre on level 3 and consulting clinics and administrative offices on level 2. The acute assessment unit currently on level 3 will relocate to level 4 and expand to 36 beds; and a redeveloped operating theatre suite will include four additional theatres, taking to 12 the total theatre numbers. The cardiac care unit, currently on level 3, will move to a newly refurbished ward on level 6 to make way for the expanding emergency department.

The new emergency department will include five zones: resuscitation and time critical rooms; emergency admissions; paediatric emergency; an area dedicated to emergency mental health patients; and an emergency extended care unit. In total, the ED will have 21 additional treatment cubicles, taking to 50 the total treatment cubicle numbers in ED. The intensive care and critical care unit will expand and consolidate its facilities, taking to 32 the total bed numbers.

FMC's existing aged central engineering plant and systems infrastructure will undergo a major upgrade, including mechanical, electrical, fire, hydraulics, and data and communication systems. The replacement of major engineering plant will allow FMC to significantly reduce energy and water consumption and minimise the environmental impact of its operation. So, the two premises in the member's question—first, that we are reducing capacity and, secondly, that we are keeping it secret until after the election—are both demonstrably false.