Question Time

Health Budget

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): My question is to the Deputy Premier. Following the health minister's answer to the house yesterday that it is the government's intention to reduce the number of acute beds in the health system from 2.6 to 2.1 beds per 1,000 population, can the Deputy Premier confirm that this would represent a loss of more than 800 acute hospital beds in South Australia?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform) (14:09): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I also listened carefully yesterday to the health minister's answer, and I think what he actually said was that the average around the country was something like 2.1, and that in South Australia the average number was about 2.6, and that he thought in the ideal world we should be moving closer to the national average.

He also made the point, I think, that the innovation that is going on presently in the health system (the Transforming Health initiative, which is clinician driven, not driven by bureaucracy) is looking at producing better health outcomes. Better health outcomes, I am advised—and I think members who have paid any attention to this would be advised—are often consistent with individuals spending less time in hospital and more time outside of hospital.

If better clinical practice means that there is a reduction in the number of bed days within the system, a corollary of that is that at any given point in time the system has a lower average level of demand. I think the minister also said yesterday that this is a demand-driven system; in other words, it is capable of scaling up in order to meet requirements as and when they might come upon them. Again, I am harking back to what I recall of his comments yesterday, but I think he did make the point that if we have an unusually bad flu season, for instance—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is warned a first time.

Ms Chapman: The Alaskan flu.

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned a first time.

Mr Tarzia interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hartley is called to order.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Mr Speaker, I am merely attempting to assist the parliament—

Ms Chapman: You're wasting time.

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I am attempting to assist the parliament in relation to what I gather to be a genuine question from the Leader of the Opposition, and I am trying to explain—

Dr McFetridge interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett is called to order.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: I am trying to explain what the answer that was offered by the minister yesterday meant. What it didn't mean, as I understand it, is that you could subtract 2.1 from 2.6, multiply that by a factor to give you a population equivalent, extrapolate from that a certain number of beds, and then come in here and say, 'Well, that's what we're losing.'