Lyell McEwin Hospital

Mr GEE (Napier) (14:35): My question is to the Minister for Health. Could the minister tell the house about the planned increase to hospital services at the Lyell McEwin Hospital?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is on two warnings.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:36): I thank the honourable member for his question; he is a wonderful advocate for the Lyell McEwin Hospital. One of the major aims of Transforming Health is to ensure that people in the northern and north-eastern suburbs receive excellent care closer to home. We know that around only half of all northern and north-eastern residents who receive care in public hospitals receive this care in their local hospitals compared to nearly 90 per cent in their southern and central Adelaide suburbs counterparts.

People in the northern and north-eastern suburbs deserve access to the same health services as other areas of Adelaide, and that is why we are transferring significant additional facilities, clinical staff and services to the Lyell McEwin Hospital. This substantial boost to services in the coming months recognises the significant growth in population and demand for services in the north. I am pleased to say that around 200 nurses, allied health and administrative staff from our central hospitals have put their hands up to be considered to move to the Lyell McEwin or Modbury hospitals, and the first group of staff started moving a few weeks ago, on 17 October.

Changes will continue to be rolled out in a phased approach over coming months, with all staff and service transfers anticipated to be completed by early next year. This will see around 170 full-time equivalent employees transferring to the north, including doctors, nurses, allied health and admin staff. There will be increased services in the north in many specialities, including vascular, renal; urology; endocrinology; haematology; orthopaedics; stroke; ear, nose and throat; breast; medical oncology; and cardiology. The Lyell McEwin Hospital emergency department has been strengthened, with a 24/7 emergency orthopaedic trauma service providing faster access to orthopaedic surgery. We know that previously patients who needed emergency hip fracture surgery used to wait up to 150 hours; under the new model, many patients are waiting less than 15 hours.

A new cardiac catheter laboratory is being built there, allowing more local residents with heart attacks and heart conditions to be diagnosed and treated closer to home. Specialist on-site stroke care services are being extended at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, ensuring faster treatment in a specialised unit, and a recently installed new radiation oncology planning CT scan is supporting faster access to cancer treatment, meaning patients in the north no longer need to travel to the city for the same treatment. The new scanner is located in the $9.7 million Northern Adelaide Cancer Centre, which opened in 2014 and which houses a dedicated chemotherapy area, six clinic rooms and two linear accelerators.

The Lyell McEwin Hospital has almost doubled in size under this government, with investment of over $314 million. Changes we are now making represent one of the most significant expansions in health services for our northern and north-eastern communities, ensuring they receive the same access to health services as their city and southern counterparts. While we have seen support from our nurses and allied health unions, it is a bit rich that the doctors' union on one hand cries out or more resources at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, yet has taken every opportunity to obstruct this major expansion and improvement to health services for our northern and north-eastern residents.

Mr Marshall: Are the nurses wrong as well?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: If you listened to the answer you would have heard 'unlike the nurses' federation'.