House of Assembly Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1) 53 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Health and Hospital Care Health and Hospital Care Mr MARSHALL House of Assembly Dunstan Leader of the Opposition Health and Hospital Care Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:31): The claims made by SASMOA don't relate to one specific incident. They claim that there is a high rate of misdiagnosis and incorrect medication. Is the minister aware of these allegations, and what is the minister doing to investigate them? The Hon. J.J. SNELLING House of Assembly Playford Minister for Health Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Minister for the Arts Minister for Health Industries Health and Hospital Care The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:31): I presumed that the member for Marshall—sorry, the Leader of the Opposition— Members interjecting: The Hon. J.J. SNELLING House of Assembly The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: Maybe one day, you never know—the longest-ever-serving Leader of the Opposition. But I presume the Leader of the Opposition was talking about a specific incident. Yes, of course, I am familiar with Dr Pope and his concerns or allegations that there is a high rate of misdiagnosis and errors being made when hospitals are very busy. We take all steps to keep that to an absolute minimum. Patient safety is an absolute priority for me, but I guess it really comes down to the reasons why this government made the decision some time ago that we needed to build the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. We recognised that the existing Royal Adelaide Hospital was simply not going to cut it when it came to providing health care for South Australians in generations to come. We made the courageous decision that a new hospital needed to be built, and that is what we are doing. All the concerns that have been listed, of course, happen when you are operating in an environment which is just not suited to 21^st century medicine. That is why we made the decision that we did.