Lyell McEwin Hospital Open Day

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:17): Residents from the north and north-east of Adelaide were treated to a special behind-the-scenes look at their local hospital during an open day held at the Lyell McEwin Health Service on Saturday 18 June. The open day included tours of the hospital, information stalls, health demonstrations and a range of festivities, including a sausage sizzle, which I insisted upon and which did have wholemeal bread, and face painting for the children. Maps of the Lyell McEwin campus were handed out, and this is imperative because it is such a big campus now and so many people are not familiar with all the wonderful services that are available there.

Chief Executive of NALHN, Jackie Hanson, was on hand and led the tour I was on, showing the hospital and its wide range of medical, surgical and subspecialty services to the community. Her press release stated that the whole hospital has been modernised to make it more inviting and a better environment for patients to be treated in and recover. She went on to say there is now state-of-the-art equipment and purpose-built facilities to improve care. I would like to quote directly from the press release, which I think highlights the ethos of the South Australian health workers:

The community seeks our services at times when they are in need, and with NALHN expected to service almost half a million South Australians by 2016-17, we are proud to be able to show the community through the completion of Lyell McEwin's $314 million redevelopment.

Staff of the Lyell McEwin, community members, groups and other local MPs were taken on guided tours during the open day of various areas of the hospital, including the purpose-built cancer centre, a women's and children's health hub and outpatients department. We were also given the chance to speak to clinicians about changes at the hospital.

The positive feedback from people who attended on that day was about how fantastic the facilities looked and the excellent care that was being provided to patients and their families. Mostly those living close to the hospital were in attendance on the tours, but others from all over the north-eastern suburbs and much further afield came along to see where severe acute care and emergency operations will be performed, as well as where we will be able to use the cardiac facilities, the cath labs—and there are soon to be two cath labs—the 24/7 orthopaedic care and so on.

The improvements at the Lyell McEwin are just amazing. In fact, by 2016-17, due to the population shifts towards the rapidly growing northern suburbs and the changes being made through Transforming Health, Lyell McEwin Hospital together with Modbury Hospital will service almost half a million South Australians. That is why this state government has exercised foresight by investing that money in the Lyell McEwin health services with significant expansion of both the physical and personnel of the site.

Almost doubling in size, there has been much change to the hospital in the past decade, transforming it into the major tertiary hospital for the north and north-eastern area. I last visited the Lyell McEwin on that open day and saw firsthand the clinical improvement initiatives being implemented through Transforming Health.

I saw a real sense of positivity and enthusiasm among the clinicians working there, and others on the tour, some of whom had already been at the hospital as patients themselves, had come back to have a look behind the scenes. Clinicians spoke to me of improvements and innovations that they are leading in a range of disciplines, backed up by evidence and data showing the impressive and positive outcomes for patients of both the Modbury and Lyell McEwin hospitals.

I have been involved in protecting and enhancing the reputation of the Modbury Hospital since moving to Modbury Heights to raise my family in 1976. Nothing has changed for me. I still have faith in the Modbury Hospital, its wonderful, dedicated, committed staff and this state's health system. I cannot believe the only things we ever hear are the negatives and hysterical claims about people being told to wear T-shirts saying they have survived treatment at the Modbury Hospital, indicating that that is actually an exception to the rule.

Most people who have been in the Modbury Hospital have positive stories to tell. I can tell you there are hundreds of positive stories at the Modbury Hospital every single day, from front-line accident and emergency presentations to the outpatients visits and the work of the Modbury Hospital volunteers and the foundation that largely go unsung. These people go about their work behind the scenes despite, and in face of, this current round of unfounded and overblown criticism.

I am proud of the Modbury Hospital and its place in the South Australian health system. Let's start to hear about some of the really great things that go on there and work on any of the adverse outcomes as part of the quality control of the whole of the health system of this state. No-one is shying away from anything that goes wrong. We want to be part of making sure things work. Let's start concentrating on supporting dedicated staff are a part of the positive health story that is part of this great state.