ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:58): My question is to the Treasurer.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms CHAPMAN: Has the Department of Health been allocated any funds in the 2008-09 budget to implement cultural change in preparation for the new hospital at the rail yards? On 25 June 2007, Dr David Panter, who is overseeing the development of the new hospital, said that the government had guaranteed funding and that, 'next year (referring to 2007-08) I have got $5 million to spend on cultural change'. He then went on to say that the money would be used in part to replace clinicians while they helped to design the new hospital and to bring in interstate and overseas experts to consult.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:59): I thank the deputy leader for that dorothy dix question. Yes, we are investing in our staff to train them and allow them to participate in the process of developing a new health care system. We want to make sure that we do things differently which are appropriate to this century, rather than the last century.

Of course, we are looking at a whole range of areas, including the way emergency departments operate, and some staff have been sent to London to look at the new emergency department systems that have been put in place there. They have come back very enthusiastic. I am not sure whether the money is funding this particular program. We are also trialling physician assistants, a scheme that has been in place in the United States since World War II, where especially trained graduates in science (usually) work in partnership with doctors to do work of a routine nature, releasing the doctors to do the stuff that only doctors can do.

There is a whole range of things that we are doing across the health care system to introduce new workforce arrangements, new ways of doing things. But all of it is designed to put the patient first, to make sure that we can have a patient-centred approach to health care, to use the jargon of the system. If I am being criticised for spending money on staff training and development and planning, then I accept the criticism.