House of Assembly: Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Contents

Repatriation General Hospital

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:17): Considering the government closed the Repat's acute referral unit in 2012, does the minister have any further plans to cut services at the Repatriation General Hospital?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:18): We have no plans other than what's been foreshadowed in the Transforming Health document, and that is about getting services which are better suited to South Australians. The simple fact is that the health needs of South Australians have changed substantially, even over the last 10 years. The nature of illness has changed significantly over a very short period of time. Our hospital infrastructure has not caught up to those changes in the health needs of South Australians. Through the Transforming Health document we have been consulting with clinicians about how we can rebuild, reconfigure, our health infrastructure in order to meet the needs of South Australians, and I'll make no apology for that.

Members interjecting:

Mr Marshall: Supplementary.

The SPEAKER: Before the supplementary is asked, I call to order the members for Heysen, Bragg and Kavel, and Bragg, the deputy leader, is for inappropriate gesturing. The leader.