ELECTIVE SURGERY

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (14:57): My question is to the Minister for Health. Why is the government cutting hospital treatments for South Australians by closing hospital outpatients, operating theatres and hospital beds for longer than usual periods over the Christmas period as a cost cutting exercise? In a memo on Christmas closures in 2009-10, the general manager of the Royal Adelaide Hospital said:

Our goal this year is to align our activity management to maximise financial savings through reduced outpatient and theatres sessions and bed closures.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:57): This was a matter that was canvassed in the media about two or three weeks ago as the—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Bragg.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —shadow minister knows, and I think he had the answer to the question in the statement that he read from the person from the hospital. We are not reducing, overall, the amount of outpatient services at all. What we are doing is coordinating the leave arrangements so that there is better use of the resources so we do not have to employ, for example, ancillary nurses when other nurses are on leave, so that we can use the facilities of the hospital in the most efficient way. So, the same number of patients will—

Mr Pengilly interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Finniss is warned.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The number of staff is exactly the same. They are taking no more holidays than they would normally. They will be working the same number of hours that they would normally. They will be delivering the same volume of services that they would normally—

Mr Pengilly: You're cutting back surgery every year.

The SPEAKER: The member for Finniss.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The question, in fact, related to outpatients, I think. The amount of services will be precisely the same. In relation to the issue of cutting back services, this year gone by, we had a record amount of elective surgery in South Australia—the biggest growth ever in the history of our state, as far as I understand, the most number of elective surgical procedures ever. We will continue at the rate that we established for the previous years into the future, because we have had good additional funding from the commonwealth to get rid of the backlog. So, we have got rid of the backlog, and, by working diligently with the service in the most efficient way possible, we will maintain the standard that we have established.