COUNTRY HEALTH CARE PLAN

Mrs PENFOLD (Flinders) (14:48): Can the Minister for Health advise the house if, under the new Country Health Care Plan, there will be a change in procurement procedures to purchase from regional hospitals back under the control of a central body? In an estimates committee the minister stated:

I know that one of the issues in country health, for example, is that, until the country health arrangements change, every hospital in the country (40-odd) went through its own procurement process. Clearly, there are real advantages if you can procure across a bigger system. However, central procurement in the past meant goods were not purchased locally from small businesses. Goods were often stale before they reached their destination, and local jobs were lost.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:49): I thank the member for Flinders for her question. She asked me about procurement processes, and I gave an answer in estimates the other day in which I made a general point that if you procure across a broader range of institutions you get a better unit price. But, of course, in relation to country hospitals, a protocol will be put in place, so that minor matters—I imagine the sandwiches that are bought for offices and so on—would still be purchased in the local community. I am really talking about the bigger items, the items that are required in bulk.

There was a case in one of the country hospitals, as I recall, where a procurement process went very badly wrong and, if it had been allowed to continue without intervention, the hospital would have been without a particular service. So, it is important that we have a standard in place for procurement that ensures not only that the goods and services provided meet the mark in terms of quality and safety but also that we get the best price for the community. If the opposition is seriously saying that we should have a different approach to procurement from that, I am happy for them to argue it.