Stroke Service

Mr MARSHALL (Dunstan—Leader of the Opposition) (14:27): How long have we only had two clinicians covering this service for the entire state?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:27): I would need to check. I don't have that information but, as I said, with regard to how many clinicians are credentialed, there is some disagreement among clinicians about what qualifications and experience are required of a clinician to be able to undertake this particular procedure. It is, as I say, highly specialised. They are very risky procedures. Anyone here would understand that sticking a wire into the blood vessels in your brain, if it goes badly, would have catastrophic results.

You only want someone doing that if they have all the qualifications that are appropriate for someone to undertake that procedure. Not only that, you also want them doing it as frequently as possible so that they have the necessary skills. It is not something you would want to be done on you by a clinician if that clinician only performed that particular procedure on an 'every now and then' basis. It is something that you would expect them to be doing as frequently as possible, given the relatively small number of times this procedure is done.

As I say, there is some disagreement. There is not a uniform view about what qualifications a clinician requires in order to be credentialed appropriately to provide this particular procedure. I certainly take the point that two people doing this is not sufficient. I should also point out that there is in fact no-one in the private sector who does this. This is not a procedure that is done in the private sector at all, it has been pointed out to me, because of the high-risk nature of it.