Ambulance Ramping

Mr MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Leader of the Opposition) (14:35): My question is to the Premier. Has the Premier been briefed that the week before last was the worst in the history of the state on ambulance ramping?

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:35): As we have answered in this parliament before, there are some big fluctuations in presentation.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Kaurna!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I said, there are some huge fluctuations in terms of presentation rates here in South Australia and right around the country. We have seen this in other jurisdictions as well. We know that many of our GPs are not taking patients with respiratory symptoms at the moment; this is exacerbating the presentation rate at emergency departments across the country. We also know that there is a greater acuity of care.

I don't have any specific details with regard to the times that the members opposite have identified. I am happy to go back and have a look at that, but you are right: there are surges, there are changes in demand, and that's why we are doing everything we can to expand that overall capacity in our emergency departments.

I am very proud that our government is implementing a very large number of capacity upgrades to our emergency departments: in total, nine emergency departments in metropolitan Adelaide and in the peri-urban areas are being upgraded at the moment. The first of those, the Flinders Medical Centre, is already completed. It has always been the busiest emergency department in South Australia. Those opposite had their chance to adjust it. They didn't build it anywhere near where they should.

We have proof positive because one of the things that I do read from time to time, because I get a bit of time on my hands, is On Being a Minister: Behind the Mask by John Hill. He wasn't actually referring to a surgical mask for COVID purposes. I am not sure what mask he was referring to actually. The reality was that he gave us a very candid insight into many issues of the former government, of the administration of health. We know that the current member for Kaurna was one of his principal advisers, but he doesn't mention that too much anymore now he's been promoted to being the shadow minister for health. What could go wrong?

Anyway, one of the things that does happen in this book is we get a very clear insight into the failures of the development of the Flinders Medical Centre and, in particular, the emergency department—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Kaurna is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —where it was specifically designed for patients waiting to go in there to be on the ramp. That was the design that those opposite put in place. Of course, we have now made this the largest—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: I thought you said it was a national problem. Get your excuse right.

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —emergency department in South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader is called to order.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: But of course—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Malinauskas: How's your ramping going?

The SPEAKER: Leader!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I was saying, we are very significantly increasing the capacity of our hospital—

Mr PICTON: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Premier, there is a point of order. A point of order has been raised.

Mr PICTON: Debate, sir. There was a very specific question: was this the worst ramping that the state has ever seen, a week and a half ago?

The SPEAKER: I will give the Premier some latitude because he is the Premier, but I do remind the Premier of standing order 98.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I was saying, there are big fluctuations in terms of demand at the moment—not just in terms of the presentation rate but of course the acuity of care and the length of stay for many of the patients. This is why we have announced our $123 million COVID-ready package, which will give us a very significant increase in the overall bed capacity in our hospitals in time for when those COVID cases needing hospitalisation come to South Australia.

Now, of course, they are not going to come in on day one. It's not as if we lift the border on 23 November and will have a significant number of people going into hospitals on 24 November. But we should expect that there will be a higher level of cases and some of those will translate into a need for hospitalisation. We have taken all of that into consideration in framing our package, our COVID-ready $123 million package, so that we can be ready for when that occurs.