Hospitals, Winter Demand

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:18): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. As we approach winter has the minister put in place a winter demand strategy for this flu season and can the minister outline that strategy?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:18): I thank the honourable member for his question. The fact of the matter is that within a couple of weeks of being elected I was starting to work with the department on the winter demand strategy. One of the reasons why I was particularly concerned was that the former Labor government, in spite of promises time and time again, closed the Repat Hospital last November. So, this year, for the first time, we face a winter without one of our key assets in the southern region.

One of the early steps I took was to meet with my department to talk about the winter demand strategy, but I also took a number of other actions. I listened to clinicians, clinicians from the emergency department at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, who said to the government, in the context of a very serious overcrowding situation on 9 April, that they were very concerned about EPAS, in relation to the rollout of the second stage of the EPAS IT. The Australasian College of Emergency Medicine did not believe that EPAS was fit for purpose in an emergency department.

On the basis of that advice, and the advice of a range of other clinicians I had received in relation to EPAS, I took the decision that the second stage of EPAS would not be rolled out. That, in my view, was an important part of being ready for winter. How could the former Labor government think that it would be safe to roll out the second stage to our biggest hospital, a hospital that is already experiencing significant stress?

We will also be taking action in relation to the awareness of people to be vaccinated in relation to influenza. There will be an advertising campaign. We have introduced influenza vaccines for children under the age of five. We have already identified a range of facilities that could be used for winter surge, and we will be continuing to develop those plans and implement them as needed, depending on how the season develops.