COUNTRY HEALTH CARE PLAN

Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop) (14:57): My question is to the Minister for Health. What do I tell a mother of a six year old child with asthma living in Bordertown (it is near the Victorian border on your map there, John) who may need urgent emergency treatment for the condition, now that the hospital in Bordertown will be downgraded to a GP centre? Currently, patients such as the one I referred to are treated at their local hospital in Bordertown, which is within 10 minutes. For emergency cases time is critical, and children such as this will be at least an hour from the closest hospital at Naracoorte.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:58): Of course, if what the member said were true, that would be a difficulty. But it is not true. We will not be changing the emergency services. How many times do I have to say it? We will be sustaining and building on the emergency services. Reality and facts just do not come into it. The emergency services will not be changed.

The argument put by the opposition that there will be no emergency services is plainly not true. However, if it was an absolute emergency—a red hot emergency—what would happen is what would happen now: a helicopter or a plane would come and take the child to an Adelaide hospital. That is what happens now in country SA, and we want to build up the services so there is more of a chance that a broader range of country hospitals would be able to supply that service.

Let me give another example to the member for MacKillop in relation to, say, chemotherapy at Penola. Chemotherapy services will be increased in the four country hospitals. South Australia's Health Care Plan will build on a chemotherapy project that is already upskilling and training country health practitioners, so that chemotherapy will be more readily available to patients in rural and regional locations. For example, currently—

Mr WILLIAMS: Sir, I rise on a point of order. I am not medically trained, but I do not know what chemotherapy has to do with asthma.

The SPEAKER: I do not uphold the point of order. The Minister for Health was answering the substance of the question.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The member was asking a hypothetical question about the delivery of services to patients in the country. I am giving a different hypothetical about a different service, but the point is precisely the same. Let me give you an example. Currently, a patient from Penola—

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: Tell her the truth.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Transport.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —who may—

The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Transport will come to order.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: A hypothetical question: a patient who might live in Penola who needs chemotherapy services would now have to travel four hours to Adelaide for specialist-based chemotherapy services. That is what they would have to do now. It is our intention under the Country Health Care Plan that this patient would be able to have treatment in Millicent or Mount Gambier with the expansion of the services. That is only 35 minutes from home. That is the kind of example that I can give you about where the services will be improved. In relation to emergencies, there will be no negative change.