Emergency Department Statistics

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (14:54): My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. When does the minister expect the government to achieve its 1 January 2016 goal of having no mental health patients waiting more than 24 hours in an ED, considering that this morning there were 15 patients waiting at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for a bed, and—

The SPEAKER: Yes, this is an explanation without seeking leave. Minister.

The Hon. L.A. VLAHOS (Taylor—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:55): Improving access to mental health services and reducing our waiting times has been a concerted area of work that we have had increasing success with across all of our emergency services and ED teams. In fact, I have recently visited the RAH team to thank them for the efforts that they have made in improving their ED times recently.

It remains a priority as we address these issues, and I am committed to ensuring that no mental health patients wait more than 24 hours in the emergency department. Many of the clinical teams I have been speaking to across our mental health services are, in fact, looking towards our second and third round of targets and how we can increasingly improve them. From January 2016, mental health consumers should not wait 24 hours in an emergency department—

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir: standing order 98. The question was: when is the government going to achieve their promise?

The SPEAKER: I think the minister is working up to it; I can feel it.

The Hon. L.A. VLAHOS: In fact, the average waiting time has actually been reducing, from 18.5 hours in October 2014 to 8.5 hours in December 2016. In the past 28 days, the average waiting time has decreased to 7.9 hours. We continue to make significant inroads in this space, and all our clinical teams are committed to improving the access for our consumers, as fast as possible.