Question Time

Southern Adelaide Local Health Network

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY (Leader of the Opposition) (14:41): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health questions about the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.W. RIDGWAY: Last week, in an update to members, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation stated:

Taking into consideration the efficiencies demonstrated by SALHN management, the ANMF (SA Branch) sought an immediate undertaking that additional beds would be made available in order to address the immediate demand to provide safe patient care.

My questions to the minister are:

1. How many beds have been or will be closed in the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network this financial year as a result of the efficiencies demonstrated by the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network management?

2. How many additional beds did the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation seek?

3. Can the minister confirm that 20 beds at Ward RV at the Repatriation General Hospital will continue to be to be used on an ongoing basis, as claimed by the Nursing and Midwifery Federation last week?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:43): I thank the honourable member for his question. Put simply, there has been, of course, a number of changes that have been occurring within the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network (SALHN) for a number of months as the government's policy continues to be implemented. I think the most significant change and certainly the one that has—understandably and probably quite rightly—had the most attention within the community and the media is the transfer off-site from the Repat hospital.

All services that are currently being provided at the Repat hospital are being transferred to another facility. In most instances, that is occurring at state-of-the-art facilities. Take, for example, the Jamie Larcombe Centre, which I had the great pleasure and good fortune of being able to open up very recently, or, indeed, the other brand-new facilities at the Flinders Medical Centre. The government is committed to making sure that all the services—all the beds that are currently operational at the Repat—are provided for elsewhere in the system.

Of course, the government is very grateful for the extraordinary support and hard work that has been undertaken by those employees within SALHN, including nurses. The honourable member referred to nurses in his discussion. I had an opportunity to be able to chat to some of the nurses who work at the Repat when I visited there recently. It was genuine and sincere and also enlightening to see the depth of feeling that existed amongst nursing staff who work at the Repat about the work they have undertaken on that site for many, many years.

I spoke to two nurses, who had been working at the Repat for in excess of a decade, in one conversation. They were conveying to me a real passion about the Repat site and all the work that had been undertaken there, but at the same time they understood that there was potentially a brighter future ahead by being able to undertake that same work with the same level of commitment and being able to do it in the state-of-the-art facilities that are being provided for across our health network, including in and around SALHN.

So that work is continuing. All the services that exist at the Repat are being provided for elsewhere. I will be the first to acknowledge—and I think anyone who has followed this public policy question for some time I am sure would also acknowledge—that this has not been without its difficulty. Closing a hospital is never going to be easy, but I think it demonstrates that this government is willing to make the tough decisions to ensure we get the best possible outcome for the people that we are here to make sure we serve, and that is the people who need these services: patients. That is what we are interested in. We are not interested in cheap political points. If we were we would not have gone down the path that we have elected to do.

We are serious about making sure that we have a modernised health system in this state, that people, when they do get ill, do not just get access to great services but get access to great services in world-class, modern facilities. That is what we are delivering, that is what we will continue to deliver, and we thank all the staff who work at existing facilities for supporting us in that endeavour.