Parliamentary Committees

Public Works Committee: Women's and Children's Hospital Upgrade Sustainment Program

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:02): I move:

That the 12^th report of the committee, entitled Women's and Children's Hospital Upgrade Sustainment Program, be noted.

The Women's and Children's Hospital, as is well known to members, is a specialist facility providing comprehensive acute inpatient and outpatient services for women and children. These services include emergency and elective paediatric care, obstetric, neonatal and gynaecological care and the statewide Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.

Following the state election in March 2018, our government reconfirmed its commitment to build a new women's and children's hospital, co-located with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, by 2024. In the intervening period, there is a requirement to ensure continued provision of appropriate clinical facilities and infrastructure to support the delivery of clinical services and ongoing quality of care at the Women's and Children's Hospital.

This project, which has been considered by the Public Works Committee, will deliver upgrades to the operating theatres, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service unit, the neonatal nursery service and the paediatric emergency department. It will also provide upgrades to infrastructure, engineering, information and communication technology, necessary for the ongoing functioning of the hospital precinct. The estimated total cost of the project is $50.24 million and the project is expected to be completed in or about December 2022.

The Public Works Committee has examined written and oral evidence in relation to this project, and the committee has also been assured by SA Health officials that acquittals have been received in the Department of Treasury and Finance, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and also the Crown Solicitor's Office that works and procedures are lawful.

The committee is satisfied that the proposal has been subject to the appropriate agency consultation and meets the criteria for examination of projects, which members will know are described in the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991. Based on the evidence considered and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed scope of public works.

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (11:05): I also rise to speak on the motion that the 12^th report of the Public Works Committee for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, entitled Women's and Children's Hospital Upgrade Sustainment Program, be noted. The report examines the history of the proposal and the efficacy of the application of South Australian taxpayer funds to the Women's and Children's Hospital Upgrade Sustainment Program. The Women's and Children's Hospital is part of the Women's and Children's Health Network (WCHN) and a leading provider of care for both children and birthing women here in South Australia.

The Women's and Children's Hospital is a specialist facility that provides comprehensive acute inpatient and outpatient services for women and children, including emergency and elective paediatric care, obstetrics, neonatal and gynaecological care. It also runs the statewide Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, so it is a very important part of the health network in South Australia. In fact, the Women's and Children's Hospital is the main referral centre for complex paediatric surgical conditions not only here in South Australia but also for the Northern Territory and some regional centres in both Victoria and New South Wales that are closer to Adelaide than perhaps Sydney or Melbourne.

Each year, more than 30,000 people are admitted to the Women's and Children's Hospital and about 5,000 babies are born there. In addition, more than 250,000 people come to the hospital as outpatients. It certainly is an important part of the health network and, following the state election in March 2018, the Marshall Liberal government reconfirmed its commitment to build a new women's and children's hospital, which will be co-located with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, by 2024. Those two hospitals, effectively being in the same location once built, will provide great synergies for women giving birth and children.

Acknowledging that there is going to be a relocation of the Women's and Children's Hospital to a new site five or six years from now, there still remains a requirement to provide appropriate clinical facilities and infrastructure in the interim to support the delivery of clinical services and also provide quality care at the WCH. The existing Women's and Children's Hospital comprises nine separate buildings, all of different size, scale and age. There is some interconnectivity existing between a number of those buildings. The type and age of some of those buildings present limited opportunities for significant expansion or redevelopment and are probably reasons for the decision to relocate adjacent to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital in 2024.

That being the case, there is still a need to maintain and ensure that appropriate clinical facilities and infrastructure continue to support ongoing delivery there, as I mentioned, whilst planning for the new Women's and Children's Hospital continues. In fact, the Angas and Allan Campbell buildings on King William Street are both listed on the SA Heritage Register, but it is important to note that no works that the Public Works Committee considered and that have been proposed will occur to either of these buildings, so there are no heritage issues to consider as part of this sustainment program.

As I mentioned, it is a sustainment program. It will deliver essential infrastructure and engineering sustainment works at the Women's and Children's Hospital. These works are necessary to support the existing clinical and infrastructure services within the Women's and Children's Hospital until the delivery of the new hospital in 2024.

In terms of what those sustainment works will address, they are looking at the high-priority elements and critical clinical areas within the Women's and Children's Hospital. There is a six-year time frame, so it is a balancing act in terms of the money you invest, knowing that there will be significant investment in a new hospital. It is important that we still maintain these high-priority elements such as the operating theatres, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service unit in Boylan Ward, the neonatal and nursery service and the paediatric emergency department.

A number of selected infrastructure engineering and ICT upgrade works will also occur. The estimated total cost is $50.24 million, and it is expected to be completed by December 2022. In terms of consultation, one of the key elements is ensuring we consult with clinical and non-clinical staff. The way this consultation has been undertaken has encompassed the primary users, secondary stakeholders and executive stakeholders and project sponsors. The consultation covered the design of new facilities, management of ongoing heath service delivery during construction to make sure it is not affected, and long-term operational considerations, including efficiency, clinical effectiveness and safety.

In accordance with the consultation requirements for the Public Works Committee submissions, appropriate interdepartmental consultation occurred with the Department of Treasury and Finance, which has confirmed there are funds available in the state budget for this project. There has also been consultation with the Crown Solicitor regarding due process, and the Crown Solicitor has acquitted the project. The Climate Change Unit within the Department for Environment and Water has also been consulted to make sure that the principles for ESD are integrated into the development.

It is anticipated that the existing Women's and Children's Hospital will continue to provide clinical services for a minimum of six years. In order to ensure that it continues to provide high-quality and safe services to consumers and their families, the clinical facilities and infrastructure need to be maintained to support existing service demand, operational requirements and key compliance matters.

The investment in the Women's and Children's Hospital infrastructure will be required to maintain patient and family safety, as I said, appropriately manage the clinical risk, provide appropriate space within the building to meet current and future demand over six years, ensure operational efficiency and increased resiliency and also support patient and family-centred care. The advantages of doing this over the six years, as projected, are that it will provide improved clinical facilities and clinical support areas that will facilitate improved health outcomes, family and person-centred care and better patient access and flow. It will also be an opportunity to trial and implement improved models of care in preparation for a future move to the new Women's and Children's Hospital.

The estimated total cost, as I mentioned before, is $50.24 million. In terms of a breakdown of that proposed expenditure across major categories, the construction costs will be around $34.3 million, and planning and construction (including contingency) is $6.01 million. The ICT infrastructure works I mentioned previously are $1.95 million. There will be some staffing provision there of $1.2 million, and then principals contingency of $1 million to make up that sum. There was not expected to be any increase in the operating costs resulting from this changed service delivery, so in light of that the Public Works Committee took this evidence and, based on that evidence, it reports to the parliament here—and that is what we are noting—that it recommends that the proposed public work proceed.

Mr MURRAY (Davenport) (11:14): I, too, rise to speak to the Public Works Committee's report regarding the Women's and Children's Hospital, or I should say the old Women's and Children's Hospital. The key component of the proposal before us is that the Women's and Children's Hospital will be co-located, and the fundamental or the underpinning assumption with the proposal before the committee is that the Women's and Children's Hospital will be co-located with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital by 2024. The situation, however, is that the existing hospital does need substantial injections of funds in order to maintain services and to ensure that the appropriate clinical outcomes are delivered to the people of South Australia, and indeed to areas wider than that.

Starting with the proposal brought to the committee, the essence of the proposal is a sustainment program to continue to deliver essential clinical infrastructure and engineering sustainment works at the Women's and Children's Hospital, with an all-up cost of just in excess of $50 million. As I have outlined, those works are necessary to support the existing clinical and infrastructure services within the current Women's and Children's Hospital until such time as delivery is taken by the state of a new women's and children's hospital facility.

The proposal of these works is that they will address high-priority elements and critical clinical areas within the existing facility, including the operating theatres, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service unit (the so-called Boylan Ward), the neonatal nursery service and the paediatric emergency department, together with a number of selected infrastructure, engineering and information and communication technology upgrade works.

By way of background, the Women's and Children's Hospital officially came into existence in March 1989. It was formalised as an amalgamation of the Queen Victoria hospital and the Adelaide children's hospital. It is a fundamental part of the Women’s and Children's Health Network. It is the leading provider of care for children and birthing in South Australia, and it provides comprehensive acute inpatient and outpatient services for women and children, including emergency and elective paediatric care, obstetric, neonatal and gynaecological care, and the statewide Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.

Interestingly, the hospital, whilst an icon here in South Australia, also is the main referral centre for complex paediatric surgical conditions not just in South Australia but also in the Northern Territory and some of the regional centres in eastern Victoria and eastern New South Wales. As a consequence of that, each year more than 30,000 people are admitted to the facility and about 5,000 babies are born at the hospital. In addition, more than 250,000 people a year come to the hospital as outpatients.

As discussed, the budget is $50.244 million. Initially, in the 2010-11 state budget there was some $64.44 million allocated for this concept. There then followed discussion over subsequent budgets as to precisely what was going to be expended and precisely on what insofar as those funds were concerned.

In the 2017-18 state budget, the budget was reinstated back to this figure after having been reduced on a temporary basis and, given the election of the current government and our commitment to build the new Women's and Children's Hospital, that then set the template for the works that are required, that is, critical sustainment works to the existing facility until such time as the new facility is taken delivery of in 2024.

As far as the purpose of the work is concerned, as I have described, it is anticipated that the hospital will need to work for six years. As a result, there is a requirement to maintain the existing infrastructure to accommodate not just maintenance-related items but also different models of care. The assessment brought before the committee was that this investment of just over $50 million is necessary to maintain patient, family and staff safety; appropriately manage clinical risk; provide appropriate space to meet current and future demand; ensure operational efficiency and increased resiliency; and support patient and family-centred care. These were the primary goals of the proposal.

As to the facilities that are anticipated to be provided or supported, one of the keys is incorporating a health, wellbeing and restorative approach to facility design, ensuring facilities that improve functionality, enhance workflows and minimise risk; enhancing the quality of care for emergency patients through the provision of contemporary services at the hospital; and, in particular, supporting enhanced models of care. The committee took a considerable amount of evidence in December last year about precisely how those enhanced models of care might work and the sorts of efficiencies they could provide to the hospital and therefore, in particular, enhanced care for a given cost were the proposed building works implemented.

The expected outcomes of this particular sustainment program are to ensure that patient care is improved; improve safety, dignity and privacy for patients; undertake surgical activities within operating theatres that are consistent with the Australasian Health Facility Guidelines; and allow synergies and enhanced collaboration between functions within the Women's and Children's Hospital network. A variety of options were considered as part of the proposal formulation. There were initially four options for the relocation of Boylan Ward, and a further three options were prepared.

At the end of that process, the proposed solution put before the committee comprised as follows: the relocation and upgrade of Boylan Ward; the upgrade of the existing operating theatre infrastructure and interior finishes in the Rogerson and Queen Victoria buildings; the upgrade of the existing neonatal services in the Gilbert and Queen Victoria buildings; the upgrade of the ED; and several ancillary engineering services upgrades, primarily with regard to the ICT infrastructure. In particular, those upgrades take advantage of current technology.

The upgrade of Boylan Ward is anticipated to cost $15.377 million of the total amount expended. Boylan Ward was adapted from current ward accommodation many years ago. It does not meet the current needs for mental health patients, and it has no outdoor space. The proposed new accommodation and the expenditure of those funds will include a new courtyard space, a 12-bed inpatient unit and a variety of other seclusion rooms and clinical support areas.

There will be $11.84 million spent on the upgrade of the operating theatres. The current operating theatre accommodation will be upgraded. In particular, attention will be paid to increasing the infection control and mechanical ventilation systems in those operating theatres. Just in excess of $14 million will be expended on the neonatal and nursery services, and $5.938 million will be expended on the paediatric emergency department. That is primarily directed at improved patient flow and access to services within an area.

I have spoken about the ICT, and some $2.778 million is focused on addressing the highest priority engineering infrastructure as well as ICT systems. It should also be pointed out that the Women's and Children's Hospital has a post-disaster function, which is one of the considerations before us. As has been pointed out, the committee has approved the proposal, and I commend the proposal to the house.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (11:25): It is my pleasure to speak on the 12^th report of the Public Works Committee, entitled Women's and Children's Hospital Upgrade Sustainment Program. I am not a member of that committee, but I think it is a very important topic. Health is always very important, and a centre of excellence in health is always very important. Of course, the health of children, and thereby of connected women, is also incredibly important.

I am sure this is something all members in this chamber would take a great interest in. As we have heard from previous speakers who are on the committee, this is about the fulfilment of an election commitment we made last year under the leadership of the now Minister for Health and Wellbeing, the Hon. Stephen Wade, in another place. This is a project that had been contemplated by the former government; in fact, I believe it had actually been committed to by the former government but not delivered.

It is very important that we are here today in parliament debating this report of the Public Works Committee. The reason we are doing so is that the project has been put to the Public Works Committee, and the reason that has happened is that we are going to deliver on our commitment: we are going to have a new women's and children's hospital co-located with the Royal Adelaide Hospital and operating in 2024. Not only is it a very important project for South Australians but it is also very important to note that we are going to deliver on this election commitment for the people of South Australia.

In the interim, between now and then, we will continue to be very grateful for the absolutely outstanding work done in the existing Women's and Children's Hospital there in North Adelaide opposite the landmark cathedral. We are not going to drop the ball at the current hospital. We are going to ensure the necessary investment is made in the existing facility over the next few years. While the new Women's and Children's Hospital is being built, the existing Women's and Children's Hospital will have investment made into it so that the men and women who work there can continue the excellent work they do in that facility. I believe in the order of $50 million will still be invested in the existing facility so that, at least with regard to the care of people in South Australia, it will be seamless.

Of course, from a physical perspective there will be a very important transition probably right when the new hospital becomes operational, and lessons that were learned from the transition from the old Royal Adelaide Hospital to the new Royal Adelaide Hospital will be taken on board when the current government works through the transition. There were some mistakes made; full credit to the people who worked on that very complicated project for doing a very good job, but there were certainly lessons learned from that that we will incorporate into this new hospital.

Mr Speaker, you might be interested to know why a regional member of parliament is interested in speaking on this motion, someone who is very clearly on the record—multiple times in this place—talking about the importance of country health, about the importance of retaining health services in country areas to the highest standard possible, and in fact many times talking about the need to retain birthing services in country hospitals, small country hospitals in small country towns. I still believe that is very important.

Currently, approximately 5,000 babies are born per year in the Women's and Children's Hospital, and each year approximately 50 babies are born in Kapunda Hospital, in my electorate. Every single one of those babies is incredibly important, every single one of those mothers immediately involved in those births is incredibly important and every single one of those families connected to that mother and that baby is incredibly important.

We need to continue to provide these obstetric services in country areas. That is vitally important, and I will never support a new women's and children's hospital in Adelaide taking the place of these services being made available in country areas. Indeed, that is not what our government intends to do and that is not what our Minister for Health intends to do at all. We will continue to support country hospitals to the very best of our ability.

We need to acknowledge that some services cannot be provided in every single hospital in the state. Heart surgery, for example, is only provided in Adelaide. Would it be nice to go to the Mount Gambier, Port Lincoln or Port Augusta Hospital if you needed heart surgery? Yes, of course it would, but it has never been delivered there. It almost certainly never will be, and there is a reason for that: the specialists who can deliver that care are relatively few and far between, and the equipment required to provide that care is exceptionally expensive not only from a capital outlay and operational perspective but also from a maintenance perspective. Heart surgery is an example of something that we can only deliver in Adelaide, and there are other examples as well.

The da Vinci robot, which can do extraordinarily precise surgery and is well known for its work on cancer patients, is another example. Unfortunately, it is not possible to invest in so many of those machines that we could have them spread all around the countryside. In this case, there are times when the health of a baby or a mother is so compromised or so at risk that it is necessary for them to have the very best care available in the world, and we can offer that in the Women's and Children's Hospital.

As an aside, my wife is a nurse. She and I were planning and hoping to have children, but it did not work out for us unfortunately. At that time, we both had private health care and my wife, being well versed in the various services around, and being a theatre nurse, said, 'No, if I fall pregnant we will go public, and we will go to the Women's and Children's Hospital.' That was largely because of her age. I do not want to go too far off track sharing personal details that probably are not of great interest, but it is an example of a regional couple, a potential regional family, who, for quite understandable reasons, decided that it would be risky enough for us to need to go to Adelaide if that were to eventuate.

There are many other far more serious, far more severe and far more important examples than the small one I have just shared that mean that this investment is incredibly important. This investment is exactly what our state needs. I have visited the current Women's and Children's Hospital, and I say again that the people who work there provide an extraordinary service. The facility inside, really, is a bit of a rabbit warren. There are wonderful people doing wonderful work in a facility that really is past its use-by date.

We have recognised that, we have allocated funds to that, we will improve that and make a transition to the very best possible ability that our government has to offer. We will make sure that women and children in South Australia continue to receive exceptional care in the meantime and hopefully even better care down the track. I commend the work of the Public Works Committee and their report to this house.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (11:35): I rise to speak on the report that has been received in respect of the Public Works Committee's approval and recommendation of the Women's and Children's Hospital upgrade. The member for Stuart, our Minister for Energy and Mining, has explained the significance of the Women's and Children's Hospital as a statewide service, which indeed it is, and I place on the record my appreciation to the many committees around country South Australia that still raise money for the Women's and Children's Hospital in recognition of the important services that are provided, including maternity, obstetrics, paediatrics and the like.

These services have expanded over the years from the original site on the main road going north, but the relocation in the 1950s of St Peter's Girls' School up into Stonyfell in my electorate has meant that the whole of the area is now covered with women's and children's health services and medical services. I think it was during Dr Cornwall's time as the minister for health in the Bannon government that there was the closure of the Queen Victoria hospital and maternity services were transferred to that site. It is very crammed.

They are incredibly important services that are provided there at a statewide level. Its development has now removed the opportunity to have a helipad for emergency entry and exit of the facility. The Liberal government's commitment, which was from opposition, was ultimately to co-locate this hospital with the state's major tertiary hospital. Our original plan, of course, was that it come down Frome Road and be with the original site; nevertheless, the commitment of our minister is to ensure that we transfer those services.

It is terribly important because I can think of a constituent complaint that came to me early in the parliament. In that case, a lady was delivering a baby in the Victoria building at the Queen Victoria hospital, something went wrong and she required a leg amputation. During labour, she was transferred by road to the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Unfortunately, her leg did require amputation, but the baby was born successfully and she was, I am pleased to say, subsequently suitably compensated for what happened in that process.

Nevertheless, access to our tertiary facilities is absolutely critical. So, in the absence of being able to bring in a helipad to the Women's and Children's Hospital, it is very important and critical that we have that now that any transfers such as that would have to go all the way down Frome Road and then all the way down North Terrace to get to the new tertiary facility. Full marks to minister Wade in pursuing that commitment and developing it.

There are three areas we still need to deal with in relation to women and children's health care in South Australia. I have been batting on about these for some time, and I am confident that, in their ongoing work, the new Minister for Health and our new Minister for Human Services and covering women's issues (the Hon. Stephen Wade and the Hon. Michelle Lensink in another place), and here in our chamber, minister Wingard, who is minister for corrections and police, are onto these issues and looking at them.

I just cannot believe that we are finally getting some serious attention to three things. Firstly, in relation to postnatal depression, our women and babies who suffer in these circumstances had to be re-accommodated in the Glenside site when the previous Labor government destroyed that site, in my view, in the sense of its commitment to sell off 40 per cent for housing and various other activities. A new facility had to be built at the back. Our mothers who deliver babies and suffer from postnatal depression are still in that acute facility out at Glenside with people with drug addiction and other serious psychiatric conditions. I think that is reprehensible. We have to keep working towards having that facility back in a women's and children's health facility.

Congratulations to the committee on approving the upgrade of Boylan Ward, which of course treats children with mental health conditions. However, I think we are leaving our mothers abandoned in these circumstances. They need to have the full support of appropriate arrangements, bearing in mind that, in the first place, they were only ever sent to Glenside for care because there was not room in the Women's and Children's Hospital after the co-location.

Secondly, children who are born to women whilst they are in custody, in prison, need to be considered. We do not want them having to be accommodated in Boylan Ward down the track because of early separation from their mothers. We suffered a shameful statistic in South Australia when the previous Labor government closed down the capacity for this to happen in this state. I think we are the only mainland state left that does not allow for children who are born to women in prison to be able to stay with them, whether it is for months or for a couple of years. We have nothing in South Australia for this. It must be addressed.

Thirdly, this is for women, particularly younger women, who suffer from eating disorders. I can remember being in this chamber when the former health minister under the Labor government closed down beds, precious beds at the Flinders Medical Centre to help treat young women who were facing death from starvation as a result of conditions that they had. These are life-threatening conditions, and for the former government to have closed down services—not completely but reducing them—in this state was shameful.

I think this is another area of urgent need. Again, we owe it to our young people, our young mothers and our young children to provide them with a comprehensive service to ensure that they can have a purposeful and contributing life in South Australia in the future. These are three areas that I will continue to advocate for and that we need to continue to build. So, Public Works Committee, get ready for what we still need to do.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (11:41): I take this opportunity to rise to make some brief remarks to commend the Public Works Committee for the work that it has done and for the production of the report entitled Women's and Children's Hospital Upgrade Sustainment Program. It is important to note at the outset that this is another commitment that has been met by the new Marshall government, which, importantly, is continuing to do what we said we would do.

We have committed to the construction of a new women's and children's hospital, to be co-located with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital by 2024. In the meantime, as we know, significant capital works need to be completed at the current site in order for it to continue to be fit for the purpose that it has so marvellously discharged over the decades since the amalgamation of the Queen Victoria hospital, which occurred back in 1989. As other members have referred to, it has a well-deserved reputation in this state as being the place of choice in circumstances where complications or difficulties may arise. It is an institution discharging its care and services to a very high standard. It is an institution of which we all ought to be proud.

As we have heard, there will be a project of capital works in the order of $50.24 million to deliver upgrades to operating theatres, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service unit, the neonatal nursery service and the paediatric emergency department, as well as for infrastructure, engineering and information and communication technology upgrade works.

As the member for Davenport has relevantly referred to already in his remarks, the importance of the facility being maintained at the very highest standard before we go ahead to construct the new hospital over the course of the years ahead is illustrated largely by the number of patients that the hospital assists. We know that each year more than 30,000 people are admitted and about 5,000 babies are born at the hospital. In addition to that, more than 250,000 people come to the hospital as outpatients. The report has set that out, together with other relevant information.

I might reflect on the quality and scope of those services briefly. My second daughter was born at the Women's and Children's Hospital, so I have particularly happy personal memories of my own family's engagement with the institution. We experienced the most happy of occasions in circumstances of high care, personal service, understanding and thankfully, in our case, with a minimum of complication. It is a place that will hold lifetime memories for me and my family in the very happiest of circumstances.

I note also another illustration of the sort of experience that the Women's and Children's Hospital encounters and deals with so diligently. My adviser in Heysen, April Cooke, had an experience of considerable complication in the course of both her pregnancies. In sharing those personal experiences, she advised me that really it is an illustration of the Women's and Children's Hospital's great capacity.

April suffered hyperemesis during both pregnancies and that resulted in hospitalisation for the first five months of her first pregnancy. She was allowed home every few days, was out for two months at a stretch, but was back for the remainder of her pregnancy until birth. As this was an example of a high-risk pregnancy back in 1999-2000, she was looked after ably by the head of obstetrics, Dr Peres, who has since moved on to Sydney. In April's experience, the nursing staff were excellent and, again, it is a wonderful memory to have in those circumstances.

April reports that the staff were attentive, caring and never missed a moment to provide the utmost quality of care, and that accords very much with the experience that my wife, Maria, and I had. The specialists at the hospital relevantly, including the hospital psychologist, really made it possible to deal with what was a very drawn-out and difficult experience.

April's first daughter was born two weeks early and, as a result, due to intensive illness and risk to her health, there was necessary follow-up service that involved considerable trauma. Again, the hospital staff were brilliant. April's second pregnancy involved hospitalisation for eight weeks and again she was in for a period of several months, being allowed out only on brief occasions. This time, she was looked after by the head of obstetrics, Dr Brian Peat. She again experienced exceptional care in circumstances of an even more difficult pregnancy and, obviously, with a child at home by that time as well.

April reports that in those circumstances not only did nursing staff provide ongoing care but also the hospital child care for her elder child was of great assistance. Staff continued to be of tremendous help and that extended, importantly, to assistance around the mental health space and all aspects associated with that postnatal period. There are so many personal examples of experiences at the Women's and Children's Hospital, although I have reflected on just two.

In the short time available to me, I might also reflect briefly on the magnificent work of the Women's and Children's Hospital Foundation. It is a foundation that I have had occasion to support and cooperate with. It is a group of people involved in supporting the institution, with a tradition that goes back a very long way indeed. I take the opportunity to commend the work of the foundation, alongside the excellent work of the Women's and Children's Hospital.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:52): I rise to support the 12^th report of the Public Works Committee, entitled Women's and Children's Hospital Upgrade Sustainment Program, and commend all the previous speakers for their contributions to this debate. I note that this relates to over $50 million worth of funding to keep the hospital in good order through to 2024, with the proposed relocation and co-location of the Women's and Children's Hospital with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Some of this money is going to paediatric emergency. I want to reflect on the place where you do not want to be: any form of emergency department in a hospital. I had to attend there in August 2017. My youngest son, Angus, who was 13 at the time, had been involved in a scratch hockey game at school and, sadly, received the end of a hockey stick to the mouth. I have just been reviewing the photo I took as he was going into surgery and it is a bit ugly. I will just give a brief description, as I do not want to put people off their lunch.

It was quite a horrific injury. He really smashed up his upper lip and lower lip and essentially knocked out three teeth, which we did try to save as they were picked up off the oval and retrieved. The doctors and staff made a valiant effort, I must say, in saving those teeth, but in the end it turned out they did not take and the decision was made that whatever was left of those three front teeth was to be taken out. He also had a hole through his face, under his mouth, and it was very traumatic.

The Hon. D.C. van Holst Pellekaan: Should've seen the other guy.

Mr PEDERICK: Yes, absolutely. Sadly, the other student who was involved in this accident was traumatised as well, and he certainly has my sympathies. It was a very tough time for him. It was just one of those things that happen, and in the end you end up in one of these emergency departments. This happened at the end of school as he was being picked up. My wife, Sally, was picking me up. People were retrieving bits of teeth off the oval. The school counsellor rushed out, asking, 'What's going on?'

Incidentally, I was going to my own dentist at the time when I received a phone call from my older son, which was not very helpful. He said, 'Angus has been hurt,' and I thought, 'Well, that hasn't told me much.' I got hold of Sally and she said, 'We're going to the Women's and Children's,' and I immediately thought, 'If it needs that kind of attention, what's happened here?' Anyway, I said, 'Get Angus to speak to me,' and all I got was a grunt, and I thought, 'That's not pretty.' Anyway, long story short, I—

The Hon. D.C. van Holst Pellekaan: Are you sure?

Mr PEDERICK: I think it is an interesting story. I took advice from Sally and stayed away from the scene. I went in to see him at around 9 o'clock before he went into surgery. Thankfully, the painkillers had taken effect, but it was a nasty sight. I want to reflect on the care and attention he received when he went in there. He had close on 4½ hours of surgery that night and was out at around 2.30 in the morning.

They had to get a plastic surgeon in and they had another paediatric surgeon there. The work they did is commendable, as were the nursing staff and reception staff. They nearly did the fix in one. I remember going in for check-ups and he was almost like a rock star—for all the wrong reasons—because it was evidently the worst mouth they had seen in 2017. I saw the care and attention he received, and it also opened my eyes to the care and attention the other children were getting in the Women's and Children's Hospital at the time.

There were children with long-term illnesses, such as cancer and other illnesses, and I saw the care and attention bestowed on them. The place is child-friendly, and they also have education programs. I just want to commend the vital work these people do at the Women's and Children's Hospital. I want to note the over $50 million of sustainment money going in through the Public Works Committee. I thank the staff at all levels in the Women's and Children's Hospital for their attention not just to my child when he needed it but to the hundreds and thousands of patients who attend the hospital every year. I commend the motion.

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:58): I appreciate very much the contribution that has been made by many members of the house to what is a very significant sustainment works program. The amount of $50 million is of course to cover a number of works that are required, on which members have taken the time to reflect. I appreciate that members have taken the time to reflect on not only the scope of those works but also how those works might assist their constituents.

I reflected earlier that the project will deliver upgrades to operating theatres, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service unit, the neonatal nursery service and the paediatric emergency department, and, of course infrastructure, engineering and information and communication technology upgrade works, which are absolutely essential to modern health infrastructure.

This is a state that has seen considerable difficulties in delivering information technology upgrades. It is something that this government is looking at closely, and so I hope that those works, of course approved by the Public Works Committee, take into account lessons that have been learnt. I reflected that the total cost is $50.24 million—a significant upgrade. This government is committed, as members have reflected, on a new women's and children's hospital co-located with the—

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Kavel, we have reached the allotted time. You will either need to seek leave to continue your remarks, or simply sit down.

Mr CREGAN: Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, those are my remarks.

Motion carried.