Ministerial Statement

HOME SUPPORT SERVICES

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (15:16): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: On Thursday 5 June this year the member for MacKillop asked me about a 65 year old resident of his electorate whose home support services had been progressively reduced and finally terminated in the first half of this year. I asked the honourable member whether he had written to me on the issue. He said, 'You have correspondence.' I responded, 'From you?' 'Yes,' he said, nodding to the deputy leader. A thorough search by my correspondence officers found no correspondence on the matter described to me by either the member for MacKillop or the deputy leader. I have however received a letter from their federal colleague the member for Barker, Mr Patrick Secker, to which I replied in February.

The individual in question had received domestic help for a period of almost five years through Home and Community Care funded services. The need for this help is continually reassessed; and in this case a functional profile test conducted in January this year demonstrated that the individual had scored 30 out of 31, which indicated a level of independence. Consequently, the domestic help was terminated. If he did write to me, the honourable member might like to give me a copy of his letter so that I can check it up directly.