Ministerial Statement

Transforming Health

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:04): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: The fourth interim report of the Select Committee on Transforming Health was tabled in the other place on Tuesday. The report makes recommendations about new service arrangements across the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network's Modbury and Lyell McEwin hospitals that were implemented earlier this year, as well as the transfer of substantial additional services to these hospitals which started last month.

I applaud the committee, chaired by the opposition health spokesman, the Hon. Stephen Wade, for taking such a bipartisan approach in its recommendations, which are largely consistent with the government's plans and future directions for improving hospital services in the north and north-eastern suburbs.

Of note, the committee's first—and, if I may say, most important—of its recommendations asks the government to ensure as a matter of priority increased resourcing for the Lyell McEwin Hospital to enable it to function as one of the three major hospitals in the state. It was only last sitting week that I updated the house in response to a question from the member for Napier on the substantial additional facilities, clinical staff and services we have started moving to the Lyell McEwin Hospital in line with the hospital's role as the major tertiary hospital of the northern suburbs.

As I noted then, the changes that started last month are expected to be completed early next year and see around 170 full-time equivalent employees and more than 70 overnight and day beds transferred to the Modbury and Lyell McEwin hospitals. It is certainly very heartening to see that the committee, chaired by the Hon. Stephen Wade, has now joined the government, as well as our nursing and allied health staff and some doctors, despite the recalcitrance of their union in supporting this important part of the Transforming Health reforms.

We agree with the committee that a strategy is needed to help improve flow through the busy Lyell McEwin emergency department, and that is why we have already had an external emergency specialist undertake a review for us, with recommendations for improvement expected early in the new year. A scoping exercise is also well underway to look at options for the physical expansion of the emergency department to ensure it can continue to meet the needs of the rapidly growing population of northern Adelaide.

Likewise, I am very pleased to see that the committee has acknowledged in its recommendations that the Lyell McEwin Hospital, as one of our three major metropolitan hospitals, should have access to increased specialist diagnostic support. This, of course, is a key part of the Transforming Health reforms, which aims to realign health services staff and resources so that we can provide better treatment for major traumas and life-threatening emergencies every hour of the day.

In line with the committee's recommendation, we have recently installed a second CT scanner at the Lyell McEwin Hospital to support faster access to imaging, and this became operational last month. Further, we are building a second cath lab, which will be operational early next year, allowing more local residents with heart attacks and heart conditions to be diagnosed and treated closer to home.

With a change in service profiles, Modbury Hospital is now an elective surgery and rehabilitation centre of excellence and no longer performs emergency surgery. I note the evidence given by the chair of the South Australian branch of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons outlined in the committee's report which confirms the college's support for the principle of separating emergency and elective surgery, which, of course, is what we have done with the Lyell McEwin and Modbury hospitals.

I acknowledge that these reforms represent change for our clinicians, and change is very rarely smooth sailing. Some clinicians do not feel that there was sufficient consultation, so we are continuing to engage with them. In fact, a workshop was held last month at Modbury Hospital and included emergency and surgical clinicians to continue to work through the change. This follows on from a significant clinical consultation program that occurred between October 2015 and May 2016 which included over 226 staff forums across Modbury and Lyell McEwin hospitals and which was open to all clinical staff. These forums included over 50 service planning workshops, with over 270 clinical staff participating in the development of the new models of care and service pathways. In line with the committee's recommendations, and as is standard practice, we will, of course, continue to engage.

The committee also makes recommendations on senior overnight medical cover at Modbury Hospital. I am told that we have already increased overnight cover on the advice of our Modbury Hospital ED clinicians. Lastly, I have appointed an emergency medicine specialist on the Transforming Health Ministerial Clinical Advisory Group in line with the committee's recommendation. Once again, it appears the committee is on the same page as the government, which is very pleasing to me.

I would like to thank the Hon. Stephen Wade and the committee for its well-considered recommendations which will very much support and align with this government's vision and plans for health services for the north and north-eastern suburbs under Transforming Health. It is great to see the opposition health spokesman taking such a bipartisan approach as we proceed with these important reforms, and I am looking forward to seeing the Leader of the Opposition following his example.