Ambulance Services

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): My question is to the Minister for Health. Can the minister advise the house whether ambulance service protocols or practices in relation to The Queen Elizabeth Hospital have changed, given that over the past year the proportion of cases at the emergency department with cardiac issues has fallen from 20 per cent of presentations to just 12 per cent?

The Hon. T.R. Kenyon interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Newland will not offer assistance to the minister.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:25): I did hear Professor Horowitz on the radio, I think it was yesterday, saying that there was some conspiracy to take cardiac patients away from The Queen Elizabeth Hospital. I can affirm to the house that it's completely untrue. Of course, we would not conspire in any way to direct ambulance officers to do anything other than to take a patient to the closest and most appropriate hospital for that patient. To suggest that there is some conspiracy to bypass The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and to do so in a way that would put patients at risk, is just completely barmy I have to say.