House of Assembly: Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Contents

Question Time

Mental Health

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:18): My question is to the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse. Can the minister detail to the house why mental health was left out of the Transforming Health process?

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): Well, it wasn't. We have had a parallel process with regard to mental health. In particular, I made quite clear that mental health patients spend far too long in our emergency departments, and I am determined to see that reduced. We have had a body of work going on within the Central Adelaide Local Health Network dealing with patient flow through the mental health service. So, it's simply not true to say that it has been left out of Transforming Health; it is a key part of it.