Hospital Transfers

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:05): Supplementary: can the Minister for Health confirm that the words of Scott Watkin, the head of surgery at Modbury Hospital, were right when he said that the senior doctors who would be on duty after hours would be 'no better than a first aider'?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (15:06): No, I don't and, with due respect to that particular doctor, I think it's a ridiculous comment that a senior clinician/consultant surgeon would have no more to do for a patient than someone like me who has done a first-aid course; that's an inherently ridiculous thing to say.