Modbury Hospital

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (15:51): Today, I rise to speak about the Modbury Hospital, a facility that was downgraded and had key services removed under the previous Labor government. The Modbury Hospital is an incredibly important part of our community in the north-east. It is a place that so many people rely on, and its proximity influenced the decision of many to purchase homes where they did. It is also something that people believed would always be there when they needed it.

Unfortunately, those opposite said no: 'No, you don't need these services. In fact, we are going to take services away.' A great deal of damage was done before the Marshall Liberal government came into office, not just under Labor's disastrous Transforming Health experiment but even before that, when key services like paediatrics were taken away. Thankfully, in 2018 the Marshall Liberal government came to office with a mandate to fix health and rebuild Modbury Hospital, and that is exactly what we have been doing even whilst also managing a response to a pandemic, the likes of which we have not seen for a hundred years.

Modbury Hospital is incredibly close to the hearts of so many in the north-east. It is an unusual day if I do not receive some sort of correspondence from someone in the community asking for more information about the upgrades because the people of the north-east recognise the immense impact this will have on our community. That is why we are getting on with the job of delivering the most significant upgrades to Modbury Hospital in its history, with $144 million of work to the site over the last 3½ years and into the future.

Whilst there has often been a lot of talk about Modbury Hospital by many people over many years, what matters is what is actually delivered. We are delivering the largest upgrade in the hospital's history to the benefit of the people of the north-east and, in fact, the health system as a whole, including a state-of-the-art High Dependency Unit—something those opposite cut and then refused to reinstate. The HDU is an important service that enables the hospital to treat a higher complexity of cases as part of a suite of new surgical capabilities.

Having this level of capability will enable a greater scope of surgery to be undertaken, including multiday surgeries, a key part of reducing pressures on the Lyell McEwin Hospital operating theatres and bed capacity. Brand-new outpatient facilities deliver a raft of services, including pre-admission, medical, surgical, women's and paediatric and allied services in a modern environment to better support the health and wellbeing of South Australians.

Having up to 24 different specialty services on the first floor, the ground floor is now a dedicated women's and paediatric clinic. A 20-bed palliative care unit is also nearing completion. We want to make a difficult and traumatic time for people as comfortable as possible and ensure patients are cared for in a suitable environment. In fact, I have never heard a bad word about the palliative care service being operated at Modbury. What this upgrade will do is ensure that that excellent service is backed up by a modern, purpose-built facility.

Also, a modern eight-bed specialised extended emergency care unit will be built adjacent to the emergency department. This means patients who are assessed in the ED can be moved to the extended emergency care unit for further observation and treatment for up to 24 hours, freeing up critical ED beds, which is important for reducing unacceptable wait times.

A 26-bed short stay general medical unit, co-located with the extended emergency care unit, will allow patients to stay longer in the hospital and reduce transfers to other hospitals. In fact, I recently spoke to a nurse who works in the current short stay unit and she informed me that a number of the beds in that unit are currently or often occupied by longer stay patients, particularly with conditions such as dementia, because there has not been sufficient capacity in other facilities. It is certainly part of the horrendous Labor legacy.

We are decommissioning the long outdated and no longer fit-for-purpose Woodleigh House and replacing it with a dedicated 20-bed older persons’ mental health facility at Modbury Hospital, which will provide appropriate care for people who need it and free up other beds in the process. But the work does not stop there. As we approach the opening of state borders on 23 November, Modbury Hospital will play another critical role as part of our COVID-Ready Plan. We are activating an additional 46 beds at Modbury Hospital in the old palliative care space. This will allow us to be best prepared over the coming months and help play an important part in providing the additional capacity our health system needs.

Modbury Hospital is so important to the people in the north-east. I am proud of the work that we have done there and the work that is continuing to be done and will be done into the future. This is part of the Marshall Liberal government's commitment to deliver better services closer to home when you need them.