House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1) 52 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Keith and District Hospital KEITH AND DISTRICT HOSPITAL Mr WILLIAMS House of Assembly MacKillop Deputy Leader of the Opposition KEITH AND DISTRICT HOSPITAL Mr WILLIAMS (MacKillop—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:05): My question also is to the Minister for Health. Before taking the decision to cut public funding to the Keith and District community hospital, did the minister seek and receive any advice— The Hon. P.F. Conlon interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! Mr WILLIAMS House of Assembly Mr WILLIAMS: —as to the impact upon the viability of the other services provided from that hospital? The board of the Keith and District community hospital, in addition to providing acute hospital care to private and public patients and accident emergency services, manages an 18-bed nursing home and provides GP services from Padthaway to Coonalpyn (a distance of some 140 kilometres), as well as providing essential emergency cover for a considerable length of the Dukes Highway. The board has told me that the removal of any portion of this suite of services will jeopardise all the others. The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: The Minister for Health, is that a specific budget question? The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly Kaurna Minister for Health Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Minister for the Southern Suburbs Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (15:06): I cannot help but say that is yet another budget question, which raises— Members interjecting: The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly The Hon. J.D. HILL: I see—when they ask it is not a budget question, but when we do it is. The hypocrisy is just palpable, and it just shows the way they play politics. They want to play both sides of the street all the time, but I am happy to answer this question. As the member would know, because he brought to see me a delegation from the Keith hospital some time ago—it was the second delegation he has brought to me over the years—they came to see me, and he has raised this so I am happy to go through the conversation that we had. They said to me, 'Our hospital will be facing closure unless you give us even more money than you're currently giving us.' I pointed out to them that we gave them money for the emergency department, which we valued and which we want to see continue, but that we were giving the money, I think, to run three beds and, in fact, the equivalent, from memory, of about 900 patients a year, and in fact they were delivering about a third of that. So, they were not delivering on what we were giving them money to deliver; and in fact it was just a subsidy to their bottom line. If they could not make a go of it as a private hospital without that subsidy, that was a question really for their board. I said, 'The government is in no position to give you additional money. What you should think through is your business case. You've got a nursing home which makes money, and you've got an emergency department which is necessary and which we are prepared to subsidise. Have a think about it.' They said, 'We can't do that.' I think that a representative was there from local government, and I said, 'Well, if it's so important, why doesn't the local government think about taking on some of this subsidy if it thinks it's important to its community?' They said, 'No, that's not the role of local government.' Well, I said to them, 'Subsidising country hospitals that are privately run— Mr Williams interjecting: The Speaker House of Assembly The SPEAKER: Order! The deputy leader will be quiet. We have five minutes left and we have not finished our questions. The Hon. J.D. HILL House of Assembly The Hon. J.D. HILL: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am happy to answer questions the deputy leader might like to ask, but I cannot hear him when he interjects upon me, anyway. He does rather disturb my very eloquent train of thought, but I will get back to it. I was making the point, I think, that I discussed the issue with representatives of that particular hospital; so the answer to his question in the general sense was yes.