Question Time

Patient Records

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:02): My question is to the Minister for Health. When will the location of the off-site patient records storage facility for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital be identified, and has the government done any modelling to identify the time it would take to get a patient's historical records from an external storage site and into the hands of clinicians?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:02): We will know when we are ready, and we are consulting with clinicians. Let me make something quite clear. Paper records at the moment, even on site, can take a long time for clinicians to get their hands on. They can take some hours, even when they are kept on site because, often, they get lost and, often, we don't know where they are. Lots and lots of things can happen to paper records.

That is why we are moving towards an electronic health patient record, so that these things don't happen and so that clinicians have the information they need when they need it. I was having a look at the health policy in the 2036 document, and I have to say, it is more than just physical resemblance that the Leader of the Opposition shares with Dennis Denuto—more than just a physical resemblance—because you read the few paragraphs on health policy and, in essence, it's Wik! It's Mabo! It's everything!

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: May I intervene? I call the minister to order for flagrantly debating the matter rather than providing information. Is the minister finished? The member for Newland.