Question Time

Ambulance Response Times

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (14:20): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier provide an update on the investigation into the death of Eddie? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS: On 27 December 2023, Eddie died after waiting 10 hours for an ambulance to arrive. Last month, the South Australian Ambulance Service commenced a review into Eddie's death.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:20): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. I myself asked that question late last week of the health minister. I understand that the South Australian Ambulance Service is finalising that report and we should anticipate it being released at some point in the next two to three weeks. I understand it is still in train and SAAS is working expeditiously to complete it.

As the health minister has indicated on the record previously, it will be made public. I will qualify that. I am happy to double-check it, but I am pretty sure there has been a commitment to make that public and I am sure the Leader of the Opposition will keep us to account on that, as he well should.

The other thing the health minister has committed to is making sure that appropriate family members, who are the next of kin and the like, get access to the report in advance of it being made public. I have certainly communicated to the health minister that it is our expectation that that should be done in accordance with the family's wishes and we would expect that to occur in advance of it being released, following the conclusion of that report.

On that subject more broadly about ambulance response times and people waiting, I am pleased to inform the house that on the back of the dramatic improvement in ambulance response times I refer to some following detail. There has been a 48 per cent reduction in deaths involving delayed ambulances from 2022 to 2023.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! There is a point of order from the member for Morialta, which I will hear under 134. The member for Florey is called to order.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Standing order 98: this is neither answering this question nor the previous ones. It is political rhetoric again, pushing the government's point and not answering the question.

The SPEAKER: I have listened carefully to the commencement of the answer. I understand that the Leader of Government Business may wish to address me on the point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: The Premier is trying to make a pertinent point to the parliament that is directly relevant to the question asked and he is not being allowed by the opposition.

The SPEAKER: I listened carefully, anticipating that there may be a point of order raised by the member for Morialta. It seems to me in my judgement that the Premier has sought to answer the question early in his response and he is now seeking to provide some additional context.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: I seek to provide additional remarks in the context of Eddie's case, which has been widely reported not unreasonably as a case involving a delayed ambulance. Between 2022 and last year, so the most recent data, what we saw was a 48 per cent reduction in deaths involving delayed ambulances.

Last year, that is calendar year 2023, was the lowest number of total deaths for when people had an urgent ambulance callout in the past six years. While there are circumstances where people call 000 and the ambulance gets there and the patient is deceased on arrival, which, of course, happens for every ambulance service around the world, what we know is that last year was the lowest number of total deaths for when people had an urgent ambulance callout in the past six years.

So the point I seek to demonstrate is that, following the big investments and the massive increase in the number of ambos on the road, the number of adverse events, the number of late ambulances and therefore the number of deaths has actually dramatically reduced to the point that it is the best result we have seen in six years. Of course, we would like to see it continue to improve in that direction.

We would reasonably expect response times to continue to improve, because if they had an extra 170 ambos on the road now over and above attrition that number escalates to 350 across the next two years because there was always a program of investment going up. The health minister isn't here to correct me on the detail if I've got this wrong, but the other stations are due to come online. That will make a big difference to response times. We know they now extend to peri-urban areas and outer metropolitan areas. Crews are going in at Victor Harbor, Goolwa, Mount Barker, Strathalbyn, new stations at Norwood, Woodville and upgraded stations at Marion. They are all due to come online, and we expect them to make positive—

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Premier, there is a point of order under 134, which I will hear from the member for Morialta.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Standing order 98: the Premier has gone well beyond the scope of Eddie's investigation for the last couple of minutes. It's time to draw him to a close, please.

The SPEAKER: I make this observation, member for Morialta: standing order 98 does not require an answer to be relevant only to reply to the substance of the question, so I would be inquiring into whether the content that has been provided to the house is in substance related to the question. In ruling on questions of relevance, Speakers have distinguished between the relevance of the minister's answer and the substance of the question and the perceived adequacy of the response. As I understand it, your point of order is directed at the perceived adequacy. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Those additional ambos, ambulances, stations and the like are coming online because we made a decision as a government to increase ambulance funding in our first year alone of the Ambulance Service by an extra $109 million. For every person in the community who calls 000 in their time of need on behalf of a family member or for themselves, while that dollar figure sounds like a big number it actually is really important to try to get the service with the resources it requires to be able to service a growing population and an ageing population, and the results speak for themselves in terms of ambulance response times.

Mr Patterson: But not ramping.

The SPEAKER: The member for Morphett is warned.