Hospital Management Investigation

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): Thank you. For clarity, can the minister just outline to the house whether the audit is an extensive audit of all patient records so that there can be some certainty that there haven't been any breaches beyond the 21, or whether it is a sample audit which still leaves a big question mark about the integrity of medical records here in South Australia?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:20): As I said, I am not about to say how the department goes about monitoring electronic health records any more than the police minister would announce where the random breath testing stations are going to be on Friday night. The simple fact is it's done in such a way so that, when records are accessed inappropriately, then we do know about it.

Mr Wingard interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: We find out about it, and we can take disciplinary action. I can't promise that this won't happen again, because—

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —SA Health is a large organisation with many thousands of people. I cannot guarantee the behaviour of each and every one of the 31,000 staff who work in SA Health at every single minute of the day.

Mr Gardner interjecting:

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I can't promise that none of them will ever do anything stupid, because chances are, occasionally, one or two of them will, but when that does happen, as has happened in this case, we will know about it, we will find out about it and we will take appropriate action. Let's be quite clear: the only reason this matter became known is because of the actions SA Health took. SA Health discovered that these people had inappropriately accessed a record and took appropriate action, and it gives me confidence that SA Health have done so.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mitchell is called to order, and I warn the member for Morialta for the first and the second time. Leader.