House of Assembly Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3) 51 3 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Hospital MARJORIE JACKSON-NELSON HOSPITAL Ms CHAPMAN House of Assembly Bragg Deputy Leader of the Opposition MARJORIE JACKSON-NELSON HOSPITAL Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:46): My question is again to the Minister for Health. Will the minister confirm that there will be no reduction in the size of surgical theatres at the proposed Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Hospital? Last week, it was publicly disclosed that the 170,000 square metre site will now be reduced to 140,000 square metres—and the minister said yesterday that he was aiming at 150,000 square metres. The opposition has been informed by clinicians that the proposed new theatres will not be 'big enough to do surgical procedures'. The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly Kaurna Minister for Health Minister for the Southern Suburbs Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts MARJORIE JACKSON-NELSON HOSPITAL The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:46): The Deputy Leader of the Opposition should seek better advisers when she is getting information for her questions in parliament, because that is absolutely untrue. If the member seriously thinks that we would build a hospital which had theatres which were not big enough in which to perform surgery, she is absolutely deluded. Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly The Hon. J.D. HILL: We are building a hospital which— Members interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly The Hon. J.D. HILL: Thank you, Mr Speaker. What we are doing is designing— Mr Venning interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Schubert. The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly The Hon. J.D. HILL: With expertise provided by clinicians, architects and all the others who have technical expertise, we are designing a hospital which will be able to provide services well into this century. Of course, when the hospital is completed in 2016, the circumstances that will apply at that time and over the next 20, 30 or 50 years of its life will change, so we are building in flexibility. However, there will be more theatres than we have at the current hospital, and the capacity will be larger in those theatres. Some theatre spaces may be smaller because they do not need all the equipment, and some will be larger. That detail is still being worked through, but I can assure the house and I can absolutely assure the public of South Australia that the theatres in the new hospital will be an advance on the theatres we have at the RAH and that they will be capable of performing the surgery that is required by the clinicians of our state.