Angaston District Hospital Emergency Department

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (14:39): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. How many times has the Angaston hospital accident and emergency department been closed this year, and why?

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:39): Similar to other issues, there are issues in terms of GP availability across the country. When it comes to the provision of our smaller country hospital services, including Angaston, which since their inception have relied on the support of GPs, when GP practices have issues in terms of their recruitment that has obviously flowed through in terms of the provision of services to that local hospital. That is an issue that we have been facing in terms of the Angaston hospital emergency department.

The Barossa Hills Fleurieu Local Health Network that runs that emergency department and the hospital have been working with the Angaston doctors and with doctors from a broader region as well, including Gawler, to see whether we can provide additional doctors to support that emergency department. We are hopeful that we will be able to provide some more sustainable medical services to increase the coverage there—understanding, though, the issues that the Angaston GPs have had in terms of covering that emergency department. Obviously, we want to make sure that that emergency department is open as much as possible and we will continue to work through Barossa Hills Fleurieu LHN to make sure we can do so.