Royal Adelaide Hospital Outpatient Medical Imaging

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:58): My question is to the Minister for Health. I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the question.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I note that the contract for the new Royal Adelaide Hospital was signed in 2011. Staff were told after the contract was signed that more outpatient imaging services would be brought in-house into the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. Obviously, since 2011, the devolved configuration of medical imaging around the new Royal Adelaide Hospital was clear, yet the government put the proposal to the market this year merely months before the new hospital opened. My questions to the minister are:

1. Why did the government fail to plan for the clear increase in the need for medical imaging personnel, technicians and staff in the context of the devolved nature of the new RAH and the need to bring the services in-house?

2. Why didn't the government engage clinicians in putting forward an alternative model until the second half of this year?

3. What is the net additional cost of the new arrangement?

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:59): I thank the honourable member for his question. I do not accept much of the premise of his question, in that the government did plan for the additional outpatient medical imaging services, as was comprehensively outlined in my ministerial statement. I refer the honourable member to my ministerial statement, which goes into a bit of detail around exactly the process the government has followed and the conclusion that we have arrived at.

Needless to say, the government is very satisfied with the outcome that we have achieved through this process, where we called for private operators to, essentially, compete against the in-house model. The numbers, in terms of finances, I am advised, are subject to a commercial-in-confidence arrangement. What I can say with a great degree of authority is that I am advised that it is a very good outcome for South Australian taxpayers, notwithstanding the fact that our priority is about getting better outcomes for patients and that's what will be provided for in this new facility.

The honourable member was right to refer to the fact that we signed the contract to build the brand-new Royal Adelaide Hospital a number of years ago. All of us on this side of the house, who fought hard in one way or another to realise the new Royal Adelaide Hospital coming to fruition, are very proud of it. It takes time to build a $2 billion state-of-the-art world-class facility. All of us were committed to it. We weren't running away, complaining about it. We didn't buckle at the knees at the first sign of political pressure or opposition from those opposite. We weren't running around in cahoots with other newly formed political parties that had one singular objective, which was to stop the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. We pressed on, and we have delivered it—a brand-new world-class facility.

The honourable member is right to point out the fact that within that new world-class facility is an extended capacity when it comes to medical imaging services. We are really proud of it. It is a great outcome, and we know that for decades to come South Australians are going to be incredibly grateful for the fact that they are in this new facility rather than stuck in a 200-year-old facility that those opposite would have patients stuck in. Those people would have us stuck in it.

The Hon. R.L. Brokenshire: Two hundred years old—what a load of nonsense. Two hundred years old—you've got to be joking!

The PRESIDENT: Order, the Hon. Mr Brokenshire! The Hon. Mr Wade has the floor.