House of Assembly Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2) 52 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Royal District Nursing Service ROYAL DISTRICT NURSING SERVICE Dr McFETRIDGE House of Assembly Morphett ROYAL DISTRICT NURSING SERVICE Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:01): My question is to the Minister for Health. Why has the government reduced the number of referrals to the RDNS (the Royal District Nursing Service) for home-based health care this year, and what has been the extent of the reduction? The Hon. J.J. SNELLING House of Assembly Playford Minister for Health and Ageing Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Minister for Defence Industries Minister for Veterans' Affairs ROYAL DISTRICT NURSING SERVICE The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health and Ageing, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Veterans' Affairs) (15:01): The government has not made a decision to reduce the number of referrals. Individual clinicians in our hospitals have made the decision on a case-by-case basis to not refer as many people as they were. My advice is that partly that is because other service providers are being used and partly just because of the numbers of times when it is appropriate for such a referral to be made; but there is certainly no change in government policy. These are decisions which are made at the coalface by the clinicians.