COUNTRY HEALTH CARE PLAN

The Hon. R.G. KERIN (Frome) (14:46): My question is to the Minister for Health. Which of the four general hospitals in the Country Health Care Plan will my constituents of Snowtown be expected to access for their general surgery and specialist services? Snowtown, and many other towns in my electorate, are over three hours from any of the general hospitals announced in the plan and have no access to public transport. The plan claims that the four general hospitals will 'allow some services country people currently access in Adelaide to be provided at a country general hospital reducing the distance country people need to travel'.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:47): I am prepared. I found this map at home from the days when I used to go camping and the population of South Australia was then 880,000, but the map does have the same towns on it. In relation to Snowtown, I draw the attention of the house to an article in TheAustralian of a few days ago which indicated that there were very few services now in Snowtown. So, where would someone go now if they lived in Snowtown for anything that was at all significant? They would probably go to Adelaide. However, under the plan that we are proposing, they would be some 40 kilometres or so away from Clare, which will be a country community hospital with expanded services. They would be slightly—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. R.G. Kerin interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I am sorry?

The Hon. R.G. Kerin: Haven't you read the plan?

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I have, indeed. We are putting a country community hospital in Clare. They would be reasonably—

The Hon. R.G. Kerin interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Frome will come to order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I actually cannot hear the honourable member's interjection, but I think the basis of it is that Clare would have reduced services; well, he is wrong. Under our proposal, Clare would be a country community hospital and have expanded services. I think the problem is that the opposition has got so caught up with its own rhetoric about this that it does not understand what is in the plan. We are saying that we will have four major general teaching hospitals across South Australia, and then there will be a dozen hospitals in the larger communities that will have expanded services, and Clare will be one of those.

My guess would be that that is the closest, but they could also go to Port Pirie, which is a bit of a distance. Crystal Brook, of course, which will be a GP Plus, will continue while the current arrangements are in place. I would say that there are a range of places where people could go where they would have better access to health services than they have now. That is the big point I think people in the country need to really look at. They should not listen to the rhetoric of the other side, which is trying to score political points for its own benefit in terms of winning votes in the country, but actually look at what this plan does.

It means that 85 per cent of country people will have access to better hospital services within an hour of where they live, and 96 per cent of country people will have better access to hospital services within 90 minutes of where they live. I invite people—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I warn the deputy leader for a second time and I warn the member for Hammond. There is a big difference between interjecting and trying to howl down a minister on his feet. The Minister for Health.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. I repeat the point that the proposition we are putting forward for consultation at this stage does create better health institutions in the country, and the 16 or so of the hospitals which are either the general hospital or the country community hospital will have expanded acute services—expanded hospital services. What it means is that 96 per cent of people right across country South Australia (and that includes the most remote parts of the state) will be within 90 minutes of better hospital services and 85 per cent will be within an hour of better services. That seems to me better than having to travel to Adelaide. Now, 550 people have to travel to Adelaide to get access to services. Under our strategy they will not get all the services in the country—I am not pretending that for a moment—but they will get better services in the country.