Question Time

Emergency Departments

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (15:14): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier advise how many times Adelaide public hospitals have been placed on Code Yellow over the past six months? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr MALINAUSKAS: This morning on ABC radio, Dr Mark Morphett, who is the Chair of the South Australian Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, said in response to a question about how many times Adelaide hospitals have been placed on Code Yellow in the past six or 12 months, and I quote:

…in the past six to 12 months we've been in Code Yellow more than I've ever known. I hesitate to say weekly, but it must be getting close to that…prior to…the beginning of last year…it was unheard of and now it's relatively a regular occurrence.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (15:15): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I don't have the exact detail that he requires—it's quite a specific question—but I'm happy to make inquiries with regard to that. I think we have been very clear that the current level is completely unacceptable. We are experiencing quite a significant surge at the moment, and this is actually commonplace around the entire country. South Australia is not the only jurisdiction that is currently experiencing a very much higher presentation rate within emergency departments and within hospitals.

Different jurisdictions have their theories on why it is higher. Some people are saying that because the focus on our primary health care at the moment is on vaccination this could be driving more people to emergency departments. Some people say it's because last year we had a lower level of presentation, and chronic diseases and chronic illnesses weren't being addressed as promptly and so this is causing a lag effect. Whatever the case is, the current levels are higher than we have experienced. Also, the delays that people are receiving are unacceptable.

What we are doing as the new government is very significantly investing in our health services at the moment. We are unwinding the mess that we inherited, which was Transforming Health. We are very significantly investing in the health budget. In fact, we have reinvested more than $2.2 billion of new money into the budget since we came to government just three years ago. In addition to that, we are very significantly upgrading the facilities right across South Australia. We are putting more doctors, more nurses, more beds—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —into our system, more ambulance officers, trying to unwind the mess. Those opposite, as you would be more than aware, sir, were downgrading hospitals right across South Australia. In fact, they closed the Repatriation Hospital and they left South Australia in a very vulnerable position. We know who the health minister was at the time that that government came to a conclusion, and we know who was responsible for the situation that we currently have at the moment.

I give this house my assurance that we are working extraordinarily hard to look at a range of ways that we can expand our capacity, whether that be an expansion to our emergency department beds. We see that at the moment down at the Flinders Medical Centre, which is of course the busiest emergency department in South Australia; very soon it will be the largest emergency department in South Australia. We are expanding the capacity out at the Lyell McEwin Hospital, at the Modbury Hospital and we are building a brand-new emergency department at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

As you would be aware, sir, the Repat hospital closed under the previous minister, the previous government, is now a growing and thriving genuine health precinct for our entire state. We are very proud of the work that is being done, but there is much more work to be done going forward. In particular, we are seeing a very elevated level of mental health presentation at the moment. This is one of the reasons why on coming into government we put a high priority on developing a new mental health strategy for our state.

Those opposite should hang their heads in shame. When we came to government there hadn't been a mental health strategy in South Australia since 2013. Since that time, we have put that strategy in place. We have resourced the development of various facilities—

Members interjecting:

Mr MALINAUSKAS: —across South Australia. Of course, we continue to do that going forward, and I look forward to receiving further investment in the upcoming budget.

Those opposite continue to shout, 'Why isn't further progress being made?' As I stated at the beginning of my contribution, we are seeing elevated levels across South Australia—in fact, we are seeing elevated levels across the country—and we are working as hard as we possibly can to address this.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the leader, I call to order the member for Mawson, the member for Playford, the member for Lee and the member for West Torrens.