Royal Adelaide Hospital

Ms COOK (Fisher) (14:28): My question is for the Minister for Health. Could the Minister for Health please inform the house if the government is considering providing outpatient appointments after hours at the Royal Adelaide Hospital?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:28): I thank the member for Fisher for this important question. The answer is, yes, we are. I am very attracted, as Minister for Health, to having the availability of after-hours outpatient appointments in the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. I have asked the department to look at having after-hours outpatient appointments available at the hospital.

I know that for many patients seeking to have an outpatient appointment, having to take time off from work, find people to look after children and so on can be very, very inconvenient and very disruptive to both work and family life. To have the flexibility of extended outpatient appointments going into the evening is something I think would be a very good idea because, unlike those opposite, I actually think a hospital is there for patients and should be built around what is convenient for patients. It is important to note that amongst our GPs in this state, in fact around the country, it is not unusual for GPs to have extended hours for appointments at their surgeries.

I know some of those GP clinics operate well into the evening, because those GPs have to operate around the convenience of patients and make sure they have appointments that are suitable for people who work in the day, for people who have children and so on. I think it would be a very good idea for us to extend the practice that GPs in private practice have been doing for some time into our specialist outpatient appointments at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. I have asked the department to have a look at it. Obviously we would need to deal with the doctor's union, and speak with them about taking a flexible approach to working hours.

I often hear it in this house, amongst those on the other side, that workers—shop assistants, restaurant workers and so on—should all be expected to work after hours, and I know that the Fair Work Commission has argued that shop assistants should have to work on Sundays for a reduced penalty. I do not think it is unreasonable for our most senior doctors to work into the early hours of the evening. We are not asking them to work 24-hour shifts, and we would not necessarily expect outpatient appointments to be on Sundays, but I do not think it is unreasonable to have clinics extend into the early hours of the evening for the convenience of patients. I think it would be a very good development, and I look forward to working constructively with the doctor's union on this matter.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I call to order the member for Adelaide. I warn the members for Hammond and Adelaide, and I warn, for the second time and very last time, the member for Unley.