Regional Health Services

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (11:52): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises the dire impact that the unfortunate reduction of health services in Ardrossan will have on the town and surrounding community;

(b) congratulates the hardworking staff and volunteer board on their perseverance in keeping the community hospital as long as they have;

(c) notes that this comes as part of a wider degradation in regional health services; and

(d) implores the state government to do all that they can to address the reduction of health services in regional South Australia, including but not limited to—

(i) installing a triage service in Ardrossan to imitate the template provided after the closure of the Keith and district community hospital;

(ii) committing to a significant upgrade of the woefully undersized Wallaroo Hospital; and

(iii) guaranteeing the equitable distribution of health professionals across the entirety of the state.

This is an issue that I intend to continue to bring before this parliament because it is one that is of vital importance to the community of Ardrossan. Time keeps passing since the community board made the tremendously difficult decision to shutter the A&E, and we continue to work on finding an acceptable solution so that health services can continue to be provided in the town of Ardrossan.

Ardrossan is the biggest town in the YP Council area. It is a significantly-sized regional community that is quite aged in demographic, and it is one that continues to grow. It is a wonderfully popular retirement destination and a community that is welcoming to people who want to move for a bit of a sea change, but that will be at risk if we do not make sure that there are health services there to serve that community and health services that are fit for purpose to do the job. This is an issue that I will continue to bring to the chamber. It is something that is of vital importance, and I hope that continued pressure will mean that we get an acceptable outcome for the community.

At the outset I need to congratulate some people, and they are the people who have taken it upon themselves as members of the community to push this issue and to continue to strive to achieve a better outcome. Chief amongst them is Mr Don Hosking, who has done an outstanding job of marshalling our community committee, which has been self-titled the Healthy Ardrossan Action Group and that is pushing and prodding and trying to find a way to ensure that an acceptable solution is reached.

Well done to Don and all those wonderful people who have joined that committee and are doing their best to find an outcome. I am pleased to play just a small part by sitting on that committee and trying to help, but it is clear that that is a group that will not take no for an answer and they will continue to strive. I look forward to seeing where we can drive that vehicle and make sure that it results in a good outcome.

As part of that group, we have been writing to the minister and the government to try to lobby them for a solution. I have put forward on a number of occasions personally—and I think it has the support of the action group in Ardrossan—that the model that has been put in place at Keith is an appropriate template that should be followed. They are eerily similar situations. They are both community hospitals that did their best to withstand the increased bureaucracy and red tape that came along with running a community-owned hospital, and they held out for longer than most.

It is true that it is a difficult task for a community group to run, such is the paperwork that is required these days. Many a hospital—many a community hospital specifically—has had to shut because of the burdens that have been placed upon them. Keith and Ardrossan were two that held out for quite some time, Ardrossan just that little bit longer than Keith, and they were a really valued service in their community.

They were really valued because the community put their own money and their own blood, sweat and tears into the formation and the building of those services, and they were really valued because of the things that they provided to the community. They were wonderfully appreciated parts of that community, and it was a sad day when the board had to make the decision to shutter them.

However, in Keith we saw the government step in and provide a triage service, which featured a community paramedic who was able to see people who were in an emergency situation and point them in the right direction to achieve the care that they needed. I cannot speak for the people of Keith, but I imagine that that went over particularly well because that is the greatest fear that people have.

In a state of emergency there is no time to ring and make an appointment with a GP, should there be one available. Sometimes there is not time to drive to Adelaide to try to secure the services that people down here have. Having that triage service, that community paramedic who can make those decisions about where best to send a patient or potential patient, would be an appreciated service, I imagine.

We had Rob Tolson from SAAS come in and talk to our group recently. I do not want to conflate his appearance with any support for our initiative or anything like that, but he filled us in on the details of the community paramedic. It only reinforced to me how suitable it would be for Ardrossan. I am of the firm view that we should lift that template that has been provided for Keith and apply it in Ardrossan for that sizeable community so that they can have an A-level triage service to help point them in the right direction when push comes to shove.

In other correspondence with the minister, we have been assured that the Yorke and Northern Local Health Network will continue to consider future opportunities for expanding their community and allied health services into Ardrossan should there be further demand. The question that we have responded with through the action group is: how does one demonstrate increased demand without those services there being promoted and provided in the meantime? There is no way that we could demonstrate increased demand while those services are not actually being utilised at the moment.

We are calling now on the health network and perhaps the government to fund a feasibility study, something that can go out to the community in Ardrossan and surrounds and determine what demand there is and what interest there is for different allied health services to be provided. We hope that they will see fit to fund that study and provide that study for us because, in lieu of that, we cannot see how it will be possible for us to demonstrate 'further demand'.

We have written to the health network, and I have written to the minister previously about it. We look forward to following this issue at the action group to see where it lands. It will be a wonderful thing to involve the community in any future decision-making for the services that are provided, and I am sure they will appreciate being consulted and provide valued input into any future decision.

I also want to quickly mention the private GP clinic in Ardrossan. Dr Rod Pearce owns and operates that, just like he does the one in Maitland. He should be commended in this case for the service that he does provide in the GP sense. It is one of the more well-populated GP clinics in my electorate, I imagine, with a number of doctors.

We just recently had a new GP visit, an international medical graduate who has come out and is at the clinic now. In the last conversation I had, she had not actually started providing services, but she was physically there and raring to go. We look forward to her joining the workforce of Dr Babu and others to ensure there are options for people seeking treatment.

As part of that new doctor arriving, I need to commend the op shop. The op shop historically was a facility that fundraised for the community hospital, staffed by volunteers and it is remarkably profitable. It has done an extraordinary job fundraising over the journey, and it has the mandate to funnel those proceeds back into the community hospital to try to ensure that it can continue to survive and provide the services that the community expects. Obviously, now that community hospital has been shuttered, the op shop has seen fit to redirect some of its efforts, and it will now be doing its best to ensure that those proceeds go towards health initiatives that are appreciated by the community.

The first of these expenditures was to assist Dr Pearce with the exorbitant cost of a visa application for this international medical graduate. These are tens of thousands of dollars that private businesses have to front up for a visa application to try to get an international medical graduate to their clinic. The op shop committee saw fit to contribute to Dr Pearce's costs on that front so as to ensure that they got a doctor in their community. I think that is entirely commendable. I would like to congratulate the op shop committee for that expenditure and that decision. We now have a doctor in place for four years—that is how long she signed on for—and I think that will be a wonderful addition for those people looking to make an appointment.

Well done to the op shop. I know there are a number of other issues they have been presented with by a number of different health initiatives within the community that they are looking at funding. I know the community continues to support the op shop in its purchasing of second-hand goods and whatnot to ensure that those community funds are there for the use of the community. Congratulations to the op shop. Well done to Dr Pearce on providing a healthy clinic. We look forward, as an action group, to continuing to lobby the government and the local health network to provide a level of health service in Ardrossan because it surely deserves it and it surely needs it.