Angaston District Hospital Emergency Department

Mrs HURN (Schubert) (15:31): Community alarm at the frequent closures of the Angaston emergency department is continuing to grow and grow in my local area. This is not just an inconvenience but it creates uncertainty in times of emergency, particularly the way in which the local health network is announcing these closures. On Facebook, we are seeing more and more frequently that closures are being announced for 24-hour periods, and that creates an extraordinary sense of uncertainty about the care that people in the Barossa Valley can receive at their local hospital.

I recently heard from a constituent whose son suffers from epilepsy and suffered a seizure after school. They went to the Angaston emergency department and they were so thankful and relieved that this emergency department was open, and they spoke so highly of the care that they received from all the amazing nurses and doctors there. They ended up working through the Women's and Children's Hospital to get the care that they needed, but the chill of the sliding doors moment that this mother felt I think continues to haunt her and it is something that as a mother myself I am really concerned about, because it should not just be a matter of luck as to whether you can receive care in your local hospital.

This is an emergency department that is there to be open 24/7 and it is letting our community down. I am particularly concerned about it. Locals are feeling anxious and frustrated. Reliable EDs are not just a convenience: they do save lives. I have raised this with the minister on a couple of occasions, the first of which was a letter in May—so May, June, July, August—and I have not yet had a response from the minister about this really important issue in my local community about the care that people in regional communities can access. I think that is a long time for something so important, but I was really grateful that a constituent of mine forwarded on a response that she received from the minister in relation to this issue. It said that the Barossa Hills Fleurieu LHN:

…has secured the services of two general practitioners who have committed to working at [the Angaston District Hospital] from 7 July 2025, to enable the ED to be medically staffed seven days per week.

Seven days per week: that was on 16 July. We are in August, and over the last few weeks I have logged on to Facebook only to see more announcements, with the comments turned off, of closures at the Angaston emergency department.

One of the biggest issues, I think, is clearly workforce. The minister spoke about this today. That is part of the reason why the opposition continues to call for incentives to attract and retain doctors and nurses. We must do more in this space because if we do not, it will not just be hospitals like Angaston that are having their emergency departments closed on a regular basis, or the other hospital in the Barossa Valley, Tanunda, which has had its bed numbers reduced because of workforce challenges. We will start to see a gradual degradation, a gradual deterioration, of healthcare services right across regional South Australia, and that is something that haunts me. It is this idea of sliding door moments where people just roll the dice and start to scratch their head about whether they will be getting the health care that they need. If we do not step up to the task, if the government does not step up to the task and roll out workforce incentives, then these types of situations will only be felt more acutely in my local community and right across regional South Australia.

There is another program called South Australian Virtual Emergency Service (SAVES). This is something that I have been working really proactively on with local practices in my electorate, and we have called for this to be considered for the Barossa Hills Fleurieu LHN to consider here. They are considering it, which is a step in the right direction but more needs to be done so that people in my patch can have the health care that they need as close to home as possible. It is not good enough, I am sick of looking for answers. This is something that is so important to my local community and we need some clarity from the government about what action it is taking to fix this.

The other issue over the winter break was the Sturt Highway. This is a national highway, and thousands of truckies, commuters and tourists use it every day and, right now, it is not safe. It is not just about the condition of the road: there are multiple spots from Gawler to Truro that are in desperate need of repair. Whilst we welcome the fact that there is an investigation looking into what is going on, we need solutions and we need action, because safe roads do save lives, and we need to see action. There is a petition that has been launched by two locals, Jackie and Michaela, and one is in my office and I encourage people to sign it.