Mental Health Services

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (14:58): My question is to the Minister for Health—the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, I beg your pardon. There are several changing places in this space. Is the minister aware that at 2pm today the emergency department dashboard showed three mental health patients had been waiting in EDs for over 24 hours? Is the government now revising its 1 January target of having no mental health patient wait for more than 24 hours, and what is the new target?

The Hon. L.A. VLAHOS (Taylor—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:59): I thank the member for Morphett for his question. It is well known that we have three ongoing targets for mental health patients at EDs. This year, we have a 24-hour target. In fact, we have had some incredibly good news and progress in that space in the last 15 or so months. Next year, we have a target of eight hours, and the year after that we have four hours. Whilst one person staying more than 24 hours is undesirable, the health system is making great strides to achieve these targets, and it is a priority as I, as mental health minister, will be pursuing.