Enterprise Patient Administration System

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:25): Another supplementary question about EPAS. The minister mentioned earlier that he has stopped the rollout of the second stage of EPAS at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital. Has the minister got plans as to what will replace EPAS in the meantime or can he outline what the process is now that he has ordered the second stage to be stopped?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:26): The pausing of the EPAS rollout at the Royal Adelaide Hospital relates to the Royal Adelaide Hospital alone. I think the next two EPAS rollouts were going to be FMC and Mount Gambier later in the year, but the pause in relation to Royal Adelaide will mean that the reactivation of stage 2 at the Royal Adelaide Hospital will occur, if at all, after the EPAS review.

We made a clear commitment as an opposition, and we will deliver it as the Marshall Liberal government, that we won't just continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars after hundreds of millions of dollars on EPAS without stopping, checking, reviewing and taking the best advice not only from IT specialists but also change managers to see what South Australians need going forward.

This is a program which has already cost hundreds of millions of dollars beyond what the former Labor government originally estimated it would cost and we are going to do what a responsible government would do, which is to pause the program, to review it independently and not just take an internal 'what does the department say' approach. We are going to review it independently and see what South Australia Health needs.

The PRESIDENT: I think we have prosecuted that issue sufficiently. The Hon. Mr Pangallo.