Hibbert Review

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:41): My question is to the Premier. What commitment has the Premier made to the families of the 17 patients to keep them up to date on progress against the recommendations from the inquiry?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:41): As I have just said, we published the report proactively. We weren't under any pressure to do so. I have pointed out that the previous government clearly didn't either commission or publish any reports. By contrast, we are not sweeping this issue under the carpet. We are shining a light on it because we want to actually fix the problems that we inherited from those opposite. We are already doing everything we possibly can to alleviate some of the added stress that has been brought on the system by the massive closure of hospital beds across South Australia.

You would note, sir, before Christmas we stopped the sale of the Repat hospital. The reason for bringing that up is because that allowed us to keep open 20 beds which were slated for closure down at the Repat. By keeping them open, it alleviated another stress that was going to be wrought against the Flinders Medical Centre emergency department. Since then, we have opened a further 20 beds at the Repat site, alleviating pressure on the Flinders Medical Centre and, ultimately, the emergency department.

We have opened the psychiatric intensive care beds, the 10 beds that remained closed when the new Royal Adelaide Hospital was opened by those opposite, and they are providing some increased capacity at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. We have committed to providing 10 new forensic beds to be based on the Glenside campus as soon as possible, certainly before winter this year.

On the weekend, we announced the criteria-led discharge protocol which, again, we think will lead to easing the pressure on our emergency departments that we inherited from those opposite. Far be it that we have been sitting on our hands. We have requested an independent report that has been published so that the families can read it. We have accepted the 14 recommendations and we will proactively make sure that we work through that list.