COUNTRY HEALTH

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (14:51): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister representing the Minister for Health a question on the subject of country health.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: Last week a major public meeting was held in Penola in relation to the decision by the sole practising GP to resign. The Advertiser on the weekend carried a story with the headline, 'How Penola GP Dr Francois Pretorius was pushed to the edge'. I quote from the article:

A rural doctor forced to work on call for 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 13 months has quit—and attacked the Health Department for providing unworkable conditions. Doctors' groups have used the case to highlight the extreme demands placed on GPs to serve the 450,000 people living in rural areas across South Australia.

The sole GP in the South-East town of Penola, Dr Francois Pretorius, said that the final straw came when he was reprimanded by management for taking his children to Beachport, under an hour's drive away, one afternoon while being available by phone. He said: 'The expectation was that I be on site or within 20 minutes of the hospital at all times. There were (times) when I worked three nights in a row through the night and every morning I came back to the office.'

Then, finally:

'The bureaucracy involved with Country Health SA is absolutely ridiculous,' the fed-up GP said.

The article goes on to quote the AMA state president and others from the Rural Doctors Association supporting the position of country GPs. My questions to the minister are:

1. What were and are the travel time restrictions placed on a sole GP operating at the Penola hospital?

2. What action has Country Health SA taken to replace the GP at Penola?

3. When did Country Health SA commence working on the Road to Rural General Practice pathway and when it is expected to be completed and implemented?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (14:53): I thank the honourable member for his important questions. I undertake to take those questions to the Minister for Health and Ageing in the other place and seek a response on his behalf.