Modbury Hospital

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (14:26): My question is also to the Minister for Health. I know the house will be very concerned that this comes after a visit to emergency I had to make myself on the weekend.

The SPEAKER: Could the member ask a question?

Ms BEDFORD: The question is: can the minister inform the house what will be done to solve referral pressures at Modbury Hospital emergency department and whether acute bed capacity will be increased to ensure patient safety and reduce transfer rates, which I understand could be as high as one in 10 patients, well above the national average of one per 100.

The SPEAKER: Again, that is commentary, but out of order.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:26): The transfer rates from Modbury Hospital ED are well within and in fact less than our modelling had originally anticipated. We expected there would be a certain number of transfers.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Adelaide is warned a second and final time, and the member for Stuart is called to order.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: As I said in an answer to an earlier question, there have always been a number of transfers long before any reforms we made to Modbury Hospital. There have always been a number of transfers.

Mr Bell interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Mount Gambier is warned for the second and final time.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: There have always been a number of transfers from Modbury Hospital; indeed, late last year my son was one of them. He had appendicitis, he got excellent treatment at the Modbury Hospital but was transferred to the Women's and Children's Hospital to have his appendix out. That is something which existed long before I was health minister. There have been a significant number of patients who it has been appropriate to transfer out.

We are certainly working with the emergency department doctors. They are very keen to have a short stay unit at the Modbury Hospital so that patients who don't need a lengthy admission to hospital, but where it is appropriate to keep them in hospital for a certain period of time for observation, have an area where those patients can be admitted for a relatively short period of time, where they can be monitored by the emergency department, and the decision can then be made to transfer them on to hospital where they can be admitted or indeed to be discharged. That's an issue we are working through at the moment with the hospital and with the emergency department. It is not an unreasonable request.

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The deputy leader is warned.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: It would certainly be a sensible approach to take. That is something that we are dealing with but, having said that, the transfers from Modbury Hospital emergency department are well within what our expectations were. They average about 10 a day, but of course they can be on days far fewer than that and on days somewhat greater than that, but on average, as to the latest information briefing I have received on where it was at, it was about 10 a day. That is 10 a day, transfers going to other hospitals. That is where it is at and that is how we are dealing with that issue.

Modbury Hospital's emergency department, as the member for Florey knows, provides an invaluable service to the people of the north-eastern suburbs and, certainly as long as I am Minister for Health, we will continue to support and do everything we can to see continual improvements in that ED.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Schubert is called to order and the member for Davenport is called to order.