House of Assembly: Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Contents

Oakden Mental Health Facility

Mr DULUK (Davenport) (14:31): My question is to the Minister for Mental Health. Given SASMOA's claim that SA Health met with employee representatives between 2011 and 2014 to consult on an improved older persons mental health service model of care and reform agenda, why did this work not progress?

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Health Industries) (14:31): I will have to find out what happened, but I can be very clear that SASMOA didn't raise this issue with me. If they had significant concerns about models of care at the Oakden facility, I would have expected that that would have been escalated to me. What they had raised concerns about—and again I emphasise not with me but directly with the chief executive of the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network—was about medical cover at the facility. At no stage did they hint at the sort of systemic abuse that was uncovered by the Chief Psychiatrist. Their concerns were essentially industrial and about medical cover—

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is on two warnings, and that's the second time I have told him that he is on two warnings.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —at the facility, and I would have expected that if they had felt that Health had not adequately addressed the concerns they were raising they would have escalated that matter, which they didn't.