Mental Health Beds

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:52): Supplementary, sir: can the minister outline to the house how consumers have been engaged in this review work with imminent announcement?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:52): I don't think it has got to that stage yet, but certainly I've made very clear to everyone that I am dissatisfied with the fact that we still have patients waiting for an admission into an acute mental health bed for longer than 24 hours. It is something that I'm determined to bring to an end and we have made significant progress on that.

I think it would be fair to say that in the north and the south, patients having to wait longer than 24 hours has become sporadic, but it is still a significant problem at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Royal Adelaide Hospital. I'm determined to fix it, and I don't see why that would be particularly controversial with anyone, including mental health consumers.