ROYAL ADELAIDE HOSPITAL

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (14:45): My question is to the Minister for Health. How will the new RAH provide for the health care needs of South Australians into the future and how does this contrast with—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mrs GERAGHTY: —recent proposals for rebuilding on the current site?

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:45): The first point I want to make about any hospital, of course, whether it is a rebuild for a new hospital or an old hospital, is that at the heart of every hospital is the quality of the staff who work there. I think we are very lucky in our state that we have outstanding doctors, nurses and allied health workers who do their very best wherever they happen to be working. Regardless of how old or how young they happen to be, we have a professional workforce which is committed and dedicated to the provision of services.

What we want to do is to make sure that the doctors, nurses and allied health workers who are going to be providing services in the future—in the next 10, 20 and 30 years—have the very best facilities within which they can work. It is unreasonable to expect world-class treatment in second-class facilities. The reality is that the existing Royal Adelaide Hospital is no longer amongst the best physical environments in the world in which to provide services. No matter how you try to restructure it—put bandaids on it, rebuild bits of it, paint bits of it, gut bits of it and refurbish it—you cannot turn—what is the expression?

Ms Bedford: A sow's ear into a silk purse.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Thank you—a sow's ear into a silk purse. That is the exact metaphor that I was looking for. It will always be a ramshackle set of buildings on that site. By starting afresh, we can create a world-class health facility for our population into the future. In particular, what we will be able to do on the new site is to provide additional emergency department work. I just referred to Mr Greenwood from the Burns Unit, who made this statement today:

The existing emergency department is not big enough to provide for the patients who are expected to come into the future.

Under the propositions put by the Liberal Party, there is no expansion in the emergency department. We know that we need to grow that by 25 per cent over the next few years.

In addition, there is no point having 1,000 or 1,800 beds if you do not have sufficient operating theatres that you can use to treat people who may need a bed. The number of operating theatres in that hospital are not sufficient; they need to increase. We can do that on a new site, but we cannot do that on the existing site. The Liberals' proposition does not increase the number of operating theatres, nor does it increase the size of the operating theatres. The operating theatres need to be made larger. Why do they need to be made larger? They need to be made larger because the techniques used by surgeons now involve using bits of machinery which were not thought about when the original operating theatres were designed. They have to have greater space in which to use the equipment of today.

Mrs Redmond interjecting:

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I would happily have the Leader of the Opposition ask me any question she likes about these issues. She is not a health expert and nor am I. I am relying on advice. I get advice from health officials.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I get advice from the very best health expertise that we have in our state, and this is what they tell me is required. All of what I am describing is what has been put to me—and which the government has accepted—as what we require for our future planning. I compare that to the other side, who make things up.

Mr PENGILLY: On a point of order, the minister is once again launching into debate on the issue.

The SPEAKER: No, he is not. The Minister for Health.

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I fail to see how a comparison is debate.

Mr Williams interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for MacKillop!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: I am not sure what the member for MacKillop is referring to but, for the benefit of those who might be listening to this interruption thinking that it contains an element of substance, I have briefed members of the opposition and provided them with documents which compare the costings of our proposition with models for rebuilding on the existing site.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The point is that the propositions put by the Liberal Party do not address the key issues that are before us as a community. They do not provide additional emergency department spaces, they do not provide additional intensive care unit beds and they do not provide extra operating space for the doctors who run our hospitals. This is what the experts are telling us. This is what we should be following.