Health Budget

In reply to Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (1 July 2015).

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries):

1. The correct figures about beds per 1,000 population from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Hospital Statistics are 2.9 for South Australia, the highest in Australia, compared to the national average of 2.5. Each South Australian also spends an average of 3.6 days in hospital per stay, nearly 10 per cent higher than the national average of 3.3 days.

The Transforming Health program has involved the engagement of clinical leaders across the health system and by consensus it was agreed to benchmark to a health round table peer hospital which had the third shortest length of stay. Improvements in the length of stay and processes in hospitals will mean that we will be able to provide current services, including allowing for growth in both population and ageing, with fewer acute beds.

2. To achieve the clinical standards of care developed by our clinicians, the structure of the system and how services are delivered needs to change. The benchmarking to the health round table peer hospital provides an opportunity to become more efficient in how we best care for our patients. By improving pathways within the hospitals, the requirement for the number of acute beds in the system decreases compared to the number of beds used in 2013-14; however, through this process there will be more subacute beds available.

These reductions in acute beds are achieved through practice improvement strategies which can reduce length of stay for the patient. This means a potentially greater number of patients can be treated using fewer acute inpatient beds. Under the leadership of clinicians the things we need to measure going forward are quality of care and patient health outcomes, not the number of beds.

3. Transforming Health is an ongoing initiative designed to optimise care so South Australians get the best care, first time, every time. This includes continually reviewing the clinical evidence and applying new technologies which will improve how services are delivered. Initiatives to improve the quality of care and achieve better health outcomes for all South Australians will continue into the future.