Regional Health Services

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (15:16): I rise to talk about my passion project which is, of course, regional health. Today in this grieve I would like to take the opportunity to really urge this parliament, and essentially this government, to take some action on the petition that I tabled in this place some nine months ago. In November last year I tabled a petition of almost 11,000 signatures that should, by legislation, have triggered an inquiry into health care in Narungga but as yet has not seen the light of day.

The people who signed that petition did so because they thought they were instigating an action. They were not necessarily doing it as a token gesture or anything like that; they just wanted to instigate an action that might lead to an objective outcome, and as yet we have not had the opportunity to do that.

I urge the government: it needs to see the light of day. It needs to be an earnest and honest inquiry that gives my constituents the opportunity to chip in and help out and contribute to it so that they can have their voices heard and they can help lead the direction in which regional health care goes. I need to urge the government to do something, to promote it to the top of the list. It surely has been waiting on the table long enough and I hope that it can soon be referred to a different committee, because it seems that the Legislative Review Committee does not have the time nor the resources to give it the light of day.

This moment signals the start of my renewed push to have it inquired into. I will keep constituents updated when we finally have it at the forefront and open so that they can make their contributions toward the future of health care in Narungga. That is plainly obvious and plainly essential, because we continue to have stories roll through about the inadequacies of the system that we are dealing with.

Only last week I had a call in my office from a gentleman whose family member had suffered a slight cut at footy that Saturday. They presented to the Wallaroo Hospital, our leading healthcare clinic. Despite the best efforts of the people working there, they had to wait six hours for six stitches—extraordinary. It was a cut worthy of immediate attention, for sure, but the reality is it was six stitches that took six hours. They had to sit there and wait for the entire time they were there. That is just the latest example of the shortcomings.

I do want to stress that is not through any fault of the people who work there; they are all doing their absolute best. I earnestly believe that the local health network is doing its best as well. John Voumard is chairing what is an extraordinarily difficult proposition. The Yorke and Northern Local Health Network has more hospitals, I think, than just about any other—16 that they have to spread their love across—and, if memory serves, they have the second highest population of any of the LHNs. So they have an incredibly difficult job trying to make sure that the services under their stewardship have all received appropriate attention and they are all getting what they desire.

But along with those difficulties comes missed opportunities, I think, and the Wallaroo Hospital is certainly that at the moment. It is a comically small hospital. It is a 21-bed hospital for a community that is close to 15,000 people, I suspect, between Kadina, Wallaroo and Moonta—and that is before you count the rest of the peninsula. So it is a comically small hospital for a community of our size.

I saw in the local paper only last week that 40 years ago we were promised a $6 million new hospital at Wallaroo that was to have 30 acute beds and 28 long-stay beds. Here we are 40 years later with a 21-bed hospital and an increased population—a bigger community—that it is trying to serve. Urgent action needs to be taken at Wallaroo. The hospital needs to be upgraded significantly, made bigger so that it can serve its community. Urgent action also needs to be taken across the peninsula at Yorketown and Maitland, and I would like to see some government action at Ardrossan as well to replace the community hospital that has since shuttered there.

It is important to stress that this petition needs to see the light of day. It needs to be promoted to the top of the list so that a genuine inquiry can be had. As I said earlier, my constituents signed that petition on the understanding that they would then be given the opportunity to contribute to a public inquiry on the record and out in the open so that the decision-makers, those who apportion the money, can be fully made aware of what the community sentiment is on the ground. That has not happened yet and it soon needs to.

The greatest evidence that we have of the disconnect potentially between Adelaide and our region is whenever we raise concerns in this place or in some other forum about the shortcomings of our regional health system, we are consistently fed information about the improvements that are happening at the Port Pirie hospital. That is not a relevant consideration for our community.

There is no-one from our community, or very few people from our community, who will drive an hour north to Port Pirie rather than an hour and a half to Adelaide to access their services. As such, while I am sure the Port Pirie hospital redevelopment is welcomed by that community it is not necessarily appreciated by ours. We would like to see that money spent at Wallaroo or another facility in our system. If Pirie is going to continue to be prioritised, maybe it should be moved into the adjacent health network.