MODBURY HOSPITAL

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:58): My question is to the Minister for Health. What progress has been made on the redevelopment of Modbury Hospital?

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) (14:58): I thank the member for Florey for her question and acknowledge, as I have in the past, her very deep and abiding interest and advocacy for the Modbury area, the people who live there, and especially, and above all, the Modbury Hospital.

During the most recent election campaign, the government committed to a $46 million redevelopment of the Modbury Hospital, and that project includes a redevelopment and expansion of the emergency department, which will include 25 cubicles and will be designed to meet best practice standards. The redevelopment will guarantee the future of Modbury Hospital as a general hospital with a 24-hour emergency department.

We also need to ensure that Modbury Hospital will cater for the needs of the local population. We know that 60 per cent of patients who visit that hospital are aged 65, and that number is projected to increase significantly over the next decade. This is as ageing state, and the community around Modbury is a particularly ageing community. That is why, during the election campaign, the redevelopment commitment also catered for a rehabilitation centre and 36 new single bed rehabilitation rooms.

These rooms will be based on the new RAH standard, and will be large enough for a number of treatments to be undertaken in patients' rooms, so the patients do not have to be moved around the facility. All rooms will have en suites and will provide greater privacy for patients and provide the best available standards of infection control. The plan announced at the election involved in these 36 rooms being placed on the fifth and sixth floor of the hospital. The master planning process, which has been undertaken over the past year, uncovered some difficulties with this part of plan.

Requirements for the removal of asbestos on Level 5 and Level 6 were much greater than anticipated. Structural and support beams were also placed in such a manner that made it difficult to accommodate the desired floor plan for the rooms. For these reasons a decision has been made to progress the redevelopment as a new building in the north-east corner of the site with a link to the main building at level 1. The new build will incorporate 36 new single bedrooms for rehabilitation, as promised. It will also provide an ambulatory rehabilitation day therapy centre, as was also committed to at the election. The decision to build the rehabilitation services in a new building will have no effect on the redevelopment of the emergency department, which will progress as planned.

So, contrary to a report in the Leader Messenger today, I am advised that the project is still scheduled for completion by the end of 2013. I understand the Messengerreceived the information following a briefing by agents of the health department to local council; the Messenger did not get the story wrong, but the information provided to the council did not reflect the intention of the department.

This is an ambitious project with an ambitious time frame. However, I have spoken today with the chief executive of the health department who has assured me that this time frame is achievable. I hope the member for Florey can pass that on to her constituents, as I am sure my colleague the Minister for Road Safety will to his.