Women's and Children's Hospital

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:14): My question is to the Premier. Did the Premier become aware of a letter from 215 doctors regarding the women's and kids' hospital before or after the report in The Advertiser this morning?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:14): My understanding is that the health minister has been dealing with this for quite some time. In fact, my understanding is that the health minister—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Wright!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —met with representatives—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: My understanding is that the health minister met with people from the medical staff society, SASMOA—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —and the CEO and the board chair of the Women's and Children's Health Network on 28 January—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —to discuss this matter, and a range of issues were discussed at that meeting.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left, I ask that these interjections cease because I am trying to listen to the Premier's answer. Before too long, I will probably get a point of order about debate or something similar and it is very hard to adjudicate when I can't hear the answer. Premier.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I said, I am aware that the health minister met with representatives at the hospital on 28 January this year to progress issues that have been raised but, as I outlined earlier to the house, I am satisfied that, despite the fact we inherited some real complexities across the health sector in South Australia when we came to government, we have been making progress, especially at the Women's and Children's Hospital. One of the key issues that we discussed at the meeting on 28 January, and in all of our meetings, quite frankly, with clinicians across South Australia but in particular at the Women's and Children's Hospital—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: One of the key things that we are discussing with the clinicians at the Women's and Children's Hospital is the design of the new hospital. You might ask the question next—who knows—why are you dealing with the clinicians and talking to them about the design of the new hospital. That is because we know the consequences—

Mr Malinauskas: Are you in charge of anything?

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —of leaving clinicians out of the design of a new hospital because that is exactly and precisely what happened with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital, with very significant flaws in terms of the consultation with the clinicians in South Australia—very, very serious outcomes because of that—and we don't want that to occur. We are very proud of the fact that we have agreed with the clinicians that they need to have a co-located, new, state-of-the-art Women's and Children's Hospital in line with national and international best practice. This was a commitment that the previous government made. In fact, it should have already been underway. They made that commitment, and I think there was a glossy brochure—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —that was flying through. There was probably a very expensive advertising campaign.

The Hon. S.K. Knoll: There was a comms plan.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: There was a comms plan.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: It is almost like—

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: They probably learnt from the Royal Adelaide Hospital not to name it first before they actually spoke to a clinician.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: That was a problem. That was a problem with the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. What an embarrassing time for the previous government when, after calling it the Marjorie Jackson-Nelson hospital or as they often said 'The Marj', Marjorie Jackson-Nelson herself said, 'Please, can I take back the offer to have that hospital named after me?' So we're listening to clinicians. We're meeting with the clinicians. The Minister for Health and Wellbeing met with clinicians on 28 January. We're taking their concerns very seriously. We're putting more money into the budget because we want to actually have a much better—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —health system in South Australia and I am satisfied that the Minister for Health and Wellbeing is delivering that. He is working very diligently to clean up the mess, and I might say not just within the Women's and Children's Health Network but right across the LHNs in South Australia.