House of Assembly Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2) 53 2 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Health Review Health Review Ms CHAPMAN House of Assembly Bragg Deputy Leader of the Opposition Health Review Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:13): My question is to the Minister for Health. Does the minister expect numbers of nurses working on the wards at Modbury Hospital to decline under the government's Transforming Health plan and, if so, how many positions will be lost over the next three to four years? The Hon. J.J. SNELLING House of Assembly Playford Minister for Health Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Minister for the Arts Minister for Health Industries Health Review The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (15:14): We are a long way from determining those exact workforce number changes, but can I say that what we will be doing with Transforming Health is having an expanded role for nurses. I want nurses to move from just working on wards to actually working out in the community, helping us deal with people with chronic illness. I want nurses working to their full scope of practice. I want nurse practitioners in our emergency departments, as we have at the Lyell McEwin Hospital. We have a nurse practitioner there taking people who are waiting, dealing with their matters and expediting their treatment. I want nurse practitioners working right throughout our health system. Transforming Health, without a shadow of a doubt, sees an expanded role for nurses. I want nurses and midwives working to their full scope of practice, and I want more nurse practitioners in our health system doing some work which, traditionally, has been done by doctors.