Paediatric and Neonatal Services, Kavel Electorate

The Hon. D.R. CREGAN (Kavel) (15:19): I raise in the house the need for enhanced paediatric and neonatal support in the central Adelaide Hills. As members are aware, my community is growing rapidly. The pressure on local healthcare services is also increasing. In the past three years, we have seen an 18 per cent increase in new births at the Mount Barker District Soldiers' Memorial Hospital. I am advised that new births at Mount Barker will likely exceed 600 this year. It is my understanding that similarly-sized maternity facilities across both Adelaide and the country provide access to 24-hour neonatal care. Mount Barker needs to have equivalent specialist paediatric support.

At present, many Mount Barker newborns who require specialist neonatal care are being transferred to metropolitan hospitals. No new mother or child should be forced to transfer into a city hospital solely because they happen to live in the Adelaide Hills. In April of last year, Mount Barker mother Chloe Head and her baby Matilda were transferred from Mount Barker hospital to Flinders Medical Centre following Matilda's birth. The effect of this transfer was significant: they were moved away from their home and support. I wish to record my gratitude to Chloe for sharing her experience in an effort to improve services for other women.

While I commend the government on its work constructing a new Mount Barker hospital, an immediate additional investment is required in paediatric services. The existing hospital has a fully functioning nursery, but insufficient funding has been committed for specialist paediatric doctors. Accordingly, hospital staff must transfer newborn babies in order to provide adequate neonatal care. I call on both the state government and the Local Health Network board to provide this urgently needed funding and support for an enhanced specialist paediatric service in Mount Barker.

I also recently launched a community petition calling on both the Minister for Health and Wellbeing and the Barossa Hills Fleurieu local health network board to provide much-needed additional paediatric services.