Emergency Departments

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (14:25): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. What is the arrangement for charging of patients attending metropolitan emergency departments, and are there any proposals to change that arrangement?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:25): I thank the member for Waite for her interest in this topic and her passion about patients in South Australia being able to access health care with their Medicare card and not their credit card. That is something that we pride ourselves on in South Australia, in Australia—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome, it is unparliamentary to interject; it is even more unparliamentary to interject from out of your place. If you want to have something to say, it might pay to move back to your seat.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: This is something that we are very passionate about, as a government, that needs to be upheld so we do not go down the path of a US-style healthcare system in this country. I thought that this was something that had bipartisan agreement, up until today. This is something that is part of the National Health Reform Agreement. It says very clearly in the Medicare principles that people have the opportunity to be treated as a public patient without cost, which I thought had bipartisan support.

Ms Pratt: No incentives, GP payroll tax.

The SPEAKER: Member for Frome, you are warned for a second time. One more time and you will be joining the member for Morialta in the tuckshop.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: I thought that was bipartisan, until yesterday when we had a very significant intervention in this house by the shadow assistant minister to the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Hammond.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: That's right. We have been waiting for a policy from the Liberal Party.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left! The member for Colton will leave until after question time. The minister will be heard in silence; I don't know how many times I have to ask for that.

The honourable member for Colton having withdrawn from the chamber:

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: The member for Hammond, the shadow assistant minister to the Leader of the Opposition, said, and I quote:

I think it could be fixed without spending a single dollar on any infrastructure. I do not think the public would stand it, mind you, but if there was a gap fee for people turning up to emergency who did not get admitted, I think you would see a drastic reduction in people attending emergency departments.

So clearly we are finally seeing some policy coming out from those opposite in terms of the healthcare system. This gives a very clear contrast between our investments of building more hospital beds across South Australia, hiring more doctors and nurses and boosting the capacity of our healthcare system versus charging patients more to get into hospital and therefore trying to divert patients away from seeking care when they need it.

Today we have heard some comments from none other than the Australian Medical Association (AMA) in relation to this policy proposition that was put forward in the parliament yesterday. Dr John Williams, who is the President of the South Australian AMA, when asked about whether this was a good idea, said and I quote:

No, I don't think this is the right way to address it. People need to come to ED… As a doctor that works in ED, I often see parents that are concerned about a child that has fever or other symptoms, and I encourage them to come in because they're unsure of where things are at and also there's some really serious things that need to be ruled out…

We also had a comment on Twitter from one of the consultant ED doctors at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He said:

Hey @AdrianPederick I'm allegedly a specialist in Emergency Medicine—

Ms Pratt interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Frome can leave the chamber until after question time. I don't know how many times I have to give you a warning, but I can't hear the minister over you yelling out.

The honourable member for Frome having withdrawn from the chamber:

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Play on minister.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON: He said:

Hey @AdrianPederick I'm allegedly a specialist in Emergency Medicine and this is the dumbest [effing] suggestion I've heard to address the issue in a long time.

There is a clear contrast. We reject it. We stand up for Medicare and people's right to access our healthcare system.