Ardrossan Community Hospital

Ms PRATT (Frome) (17:14): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Is the government going to continue state government funding to the Ardrossan hospital, given recent comments about and commitments to the Keith hospital, where the Ardrossan hospital is the only other private community hospital in regional South Australia?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (17:15): Thank you very much to the member for Frome for her question and her elevation as the shadow minister for regional health. I am aware of the issues in terms of the Ardrossan hospital. I was lucky enough, I believe last year if not the year before, to visit the Ardrossan hospital and to meet the hardworking staff who work there.

This is another example of one of these hospitals that is a hospital in the community but is a privately run hospital rather than a hospital that is in the ownership and management of SA Health. Largely, I suspect, it is for historical reasons that that has been the case. I understand that there was a time-limited grant that was provided to the Ardrossan hospital, which they indicated to me was not sufficient in terms of what they needed to provide services at the Ardrossan hospital. I heard out their issues.

They also have issues in terms of GP workforce on Yorke Peninsula, which is clearly an issue not just in Ardrossan but right across regional South Australia. This is an area where I look forward to meeting with the Ardrossan hospital staff and board, hearing their concerns and looking at how we can address those concerns. They clearly provide excellent services. They are not part of SA Health. The funding grant that they were provided previously they have indicated was not sufficient.

I am keen to work with them, and also the local board for Yorke Peninsula, in terms of how we may be able to work through the issues as well as, critically, the workforce issues that they have in terms of the availability of general practitioners in the local area.