PUBLIC HOSPITAL STATISTICS

Mrs GERAGHTY (Torrens) (15:17): My question is to the Minister for Health. How have South Australian public hospitals performed in recent national data collections?

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) (15:17): I am delighted to report that South Australia reported some fantastic results in the 2009-10 Australian Hospital Statistics, which is a report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. This is a reflection of the outstanding performance of South Australia's doctors, nurses and other health workers in our health system, and I am very proud of the work that they have done for the patients of our state. I thank them very sincerely for the hard work that they are doing in taking care of the sick and those in need in our institutions. Often under pressure, they work very hard.

The report shows that South Australia has more hospital beds per head of population in both city and rural areas and more doctors and nurses working in public hospitals per head of population than any other mainland state. Our health system is also Australia's most efficiently run, and there have been some fantastic improvements in important areas like the time patients wait for elective surgery or the time taken to be seen in emergency departments, and I would like to amplify those results.

The report shows that South Australia had a total of 80 public hospitals at 30 June 2010 which provided 4,859 available beds. Our state has the highest number of public hospital beds per 1,000 of population (three), which is 15.4 per cent above the national average. The bed rate of seven beds per 1,000—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: The bed rate of seven beds per 1,000 of population for remote areas in South Australia is 75 per cent higher than the national average of four beds per 1,000 in remote areas. For major cities, South Australia recorded a total of 2.7 public hospital beds per 1,000 of population, and that compares with a national average of 2.5 beds—so, 8 per cent higher in Adelaide as well.

The median waiting time for elective surgery in South Australian major public hospitals in 2009-10 was 36 days. That is the same as the national average. That, I must say, is the most favourable national comparison that we have ever achieved in this state. Only two years ago, the South Australian median waiting time was 23.5 per cent higher than the national average—42 days compared to 34 days. So, median waiting times in South Australia have trended downwards (while national averages have trended upwards) as a result of investment by this government supported by the federal government.

Ninety per cent of all patients in South Australia were admitted for elective surgery within 189 days in South Australia, the lowest result ever achieved since reporting began. That is 23.5 per cent below the national figure of 247 days. Ninety per cent are treated in South Australia in 189 days and nationally it is 90 per cent within 247 days; 1.1 per cent of patients admitted from waiting lists in South Australia waited more than a year and that is 2.5 per cent below the national figure. This is another record low for South Australia since reporting began. In addition, the state government has invested funds to support increased elective surgery activity and the $88.6 million every patient every service election commitment will fund 260,000 elective surgery procedures over the next four years.

In relation to waiting times in emergency departments, 67 per cent of our patients were seen in time compared with 70 per cent across Australia—so we are a bit below there—but that is a 3 per cent improvement on the previous year and, of course, our waiting times continue to improve, with the proportion seen in time increasing to 71 per cent in the year to March 2011, which is higher than the national average and the highest result we have ever achieved. The median waiting time to service was 24 minutes for South Australia in 2009-10, an improvement compared with the previous year (11.1 per cent lower) and only one minute above the national average. The median waiting time has fallen to 20 minutes in 2010-11, year to date March 2011. So, there are improvements right across the board in those areas.

The total cost per casemix adjusted separation (excluding depreciation) for South Australia in 2009-10—casemix was a scheme introduced by the former Liberal government to measure how much it cost to perform an average operation in the system—was $4,374, and that is the lowest in Australia and 7.1 per cent below the national average of $4,706. So, we are performing better than every other state, we have more resources going into our health system than any other state and, in addition, we are doing it more efficiently than any other state. This is a selection of major data published in the report and shows that this government's investment in our hospitals (which has more than doubled since we have been elected) is resulting in better health care services for South Australians.

New information has also been uploaded onto the MyHospitals website, providing a more detailed level of data for individual hospitals. On the whole, the website reflects the better performance of our largely elective surgery sites—The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Noarlunga Health Service and the Repatriation General Hospital. Hospitals which have high demand emergency departments, such as the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the Lyell McEwin, Flinders and so on, will often report longer median waiting times for some elective surgery procedures due to the nature of the emergency requirement which will always take priority. This data helps us to pinpoint specific areas of underperformance for improvement in relation to elective surgery and emergency department wait times.

I do not want to give the impression that the system is perfect: it is not. There are areas for improvement and I want to give some examples of where we are working to improve our system. Like the opposition, there are plenty of areas there for improvement. This data helps us to identify those areas.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: For example, waits for some elective surgery at the Lyell McEwin Hospital is an area where we need to pay particular attention and that is why we are spending $339 million to virtually double the size of that hospital—more than 50 beds have now been delivered there, with a further 100 to come. It should be noted that there have been some improvements to the Lyell McEwin—and I pay tribute to the hardworking staff there—and, in particular, the waiting time for all ear, nose and throat surgery almost halved in 2010-11. It went from 104 to 53 days, which is below the national average of 63 days. The median waiting time for a total knee replacement fell by 63 per cent, from 329 to 122 days, well below the average of 181 days.

I am pleased to note that, across all elective surgery in metropolitan Adelaide, we are below the national average in the category of people waiting longer than a year, with only a small number of exceptions. But we want to focus on the exceptions, and they include myringoplasty, which is repairing holes in the eardrum, at the Women's and Children's Hospital, and all eye surgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Both have median waiting times and people waiting more than a year for surgery at rates significantly higher than the national average, and that is not acceptable.

In relation to the emergency department care, waiting times for South Australia continue to improve. As I have mentioned, we are implementing a number of strategies at specific sites to drive further improvement, and we will get further improvement. We will continue to work with our public hospitals in this state to improve the level of care we provide to South Australians.

In relation to the question asked by the Leader of the Opposition, where she indicated that we had blown out the budget at QEH, I advise the house that $41 million at QEH was stage 1. Stage 2 was $127 million and was on time.

The Hon. I.F. Evans interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I'm sorry, what was your point of order?

The Hon. I.F. EVANS: The use of phones in the chamber is unparliamentary. The minister is clearly reading from his phone.

The SPEAKER: I don't think it was a telephone call; I think it is a message.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! We don't allow telephone calls—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! If you want me to start stepping on people using telephones, I will ban them completely and nobody will be able to use Twitter or any other means that they are now using.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Minister, have you finished your response?

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Yes, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: I call the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.