House of Assembly Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1) 55 1 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Question Time Naracoorte Hospital Naracoorte Hospital Mr McBRIDE House of Assembly MacKillop Naracoorte Hospital Mr McBRIDE (MacKillop) (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Health. As part of the Naracoorte Hospital upgrades, will the government include a dialysis unit at the hospital? With your leave, Mr Speaker, and that of the house, I will explain. Leave granted. Mr McBRIDE House of Assembly MacKillop Mr McBRIDE: It is my understanding that a review was undertaken to assist in developing the statewide renal dialysis plan 2022-32. However, patients in Padthaway, Naracoorte and surrounding areas needing renal dialysis still have to travel well over an hour to Mount Gambier hospital several times a week. This is obviously time consuming and stressful for patients and their carers. The Hon. C.J. PICTON House of Assembly Kaurna Minister for Health and Wellbeing The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:56): I thank the member for MacKillop for his question and his genuine interest in improving the healthcare outcomes for the people of his electorate in the Limestone Coast. In particular, in terms of Naracoorte Hospital, this government made an election commitment that we are delivering on which was about cancelling the $662 million city basketball stadium and investing that money into health care, of which we said at least $100 million of that would go into regional hospitals and health care, and $8 million was specifically allocated to the Naracoorte Hospital. We have worked with the local health network and the local health advisory council and, of course, the member himself in terms of delivery of that funding. We have recently made an announcement down at Naracoorte of where that's going, particularly highlighting upgrades to the emergency department, which is in dire need of upgrades, as well as addressing some really critical issues in terms of the upgrade of the hospital, such as the world's slowest lift that's in operation at Naracoorte Hospital. Those are critical upgrades that need to happen. We are also very careful and very clear that we regarded this as stage 1 of future upgrades that need to happen at Naracoorte. This is not the end of the journey. This is the second biggest hospital in the region and services a very wide catchment of people. We also need to do the proper planning for what the future stages of the upgrade will be and also service delivery across the Limestone Coast. Not in the most recent budget but the budget before that the Treasurer and the Premier made a further commitment that was very welcomed by the community for an additional $1 million, which is going into that future planning for Naracoorte but also in terms of clinical service planning for the broader regional area as well. And, as the member says, we do know that we are going to need more dialysis units and chairs across the state. There is no doubt that we are seeing, unfortunately, an increasing demand in terms of renal failure and the associated impacts in terms of dialysis treatment that is a life-saving treatment that people need to receive. So that work and that planning is continuing, and clearly that will be part of the planning in terms of not only the next stage of upgrades at Naracoorte Hospital but also the clinical services planning across the region. There is currently, of course, dialysis that happens at Mount Gambier. We understand that that is a journey that people from Naracoorte have to undertake. There is also a mobile dialysis unit that is run by the Rural Support Service, which is the remnants of the old Country Health SA. I understand the Limestone Coast Local Health Network is exploring options to improve dialysis for residents in Naracoorte, many of whom, of course, go to Mount Gambier for that treatment, and that will be a priority in terms of that future planning. Volunteers support that transportation for people to make sure that they can attend those appointments in Mount Gambier, but we do recognise that it can be stressful and time consuming for patients who need that transport. Obviously, when patients do need to travel, the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme provides financial support. Of course, we have doubled the fuel subsidy that's available for people to do that. In addition, on a broader point, we are looking at as many opportunities as we can in terms of adding dialysis chairs across the network. We have recently added some in southern Adelaide and there are more to come in northern Adelaide. There have been a number of areas in terms of regional areas already we have been able to identify to add some additional chairs. I believe Victor Harbor is one region where we are looking to do so and we will keep looking for those further opportunities.