Health Review

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): The former head of the Noarlunga emergency department, who was on the ground, said that they were receiving 12 to 20 ambulances per day and this would add another almost 7,000 ambulance presentations at the Flinders Medical Centre each year. Does the minister believe that the Flinders Medical Centre can cope with an additional 7,000 vehicle movements per year?

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): I don't dispute the number—12 to 20 sounds about right—but at the moment what is happening is, of the 12 to 20, half of those, having gone to Noarlunga then have to get in another ambulance and go to Flinders Medical Centre. That is what is happening at the moment. Patients are turning up to the Noarlunga emergency department, the Noarlunga emergency department is not able to look after them and they have to be transferred from Noarlunga to Flinders Medical Centre by ambulance. So of those 12 to 20—the number he quoted sounds about right—who are turning up, half of those at the moment cannot be looked after at the Noarlunga emergency department and have to be transferred by ambulance to the Flinders Medical Centre.

Members interjecting:

Mr Marshall: Nevertheless, you did not answer my question. Does the Flinders Medical Centre—

The SPEAKER: Before we go to what will presumably be a supplementary, and there is no provision for the leader to rise and to assert that the minister did not answer his question before asking a supplementary, that is not part of the standing orders, I warn the member for Heysen for the first time and I call to order the members for Chaffey and Morphett.