Modbury Hospital

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (16:21): My question is to the Minister for Education in his capacity representing the Minister for Health. How many staff, and under what job titles or categories, are employed in the emergency department of Modbury Hospital, and are there any vacant or unfilled positions at the Modbury Hospital emergency department at the moment?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (16:21): I thank the member for Florey for this question. It was indeed a pleasure to see her, along with the members for Newland and King, a couple of weeks ago at Modbury Hospital as we celebrated—along with the member for Hartley, actually, and the Minister for Health—the new public entrance for the Modbury Hospital. It is a dramatic improvement.

For those of us who are thinking about the times when we might take our children there, I am sure the member for Florey would agree with me and other members that the paediatric focus in that waiting room will make it very welcoming for children and a very welcome addition to Modbury Hospital. Of course, it is part of a $98 million capital upgrade for the hospital which the government is investing in, with dramatic improvements to the Modbury Hospital like the reinstatement of the High Dependency Unit and the restoration of 72-hour surgery to Modbury Hospital, making sure that its future is as one of the key hospitals in our health network in South Australia, supporting health services for people in the north-east, people in communities like Newland, Florey, Morialta, Hartley, King and the broader north-east, close to their homes.

The member had some specific details that she sought in her question. I will ask the Minister for Health for those details and bring back those finer points of detail for the house.