Hospital Accreditation

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:37): Supplementary: does the minister believe the public has a right to see these draft reports, all of these reports?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:37): I have already said that I believe the public had a very strong right to know about the poor state of the operation of the Royal Adelaide Hospital by the previous government, because leading up to the last election we had this two-year denial of the truth.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Let the minister answer in silence. He is answering your questions.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: For two years—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Minister, sit down. He is answering your questions, not someone else's questions. Show the minister some respect for your own questions. Minister.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: For two years we had minister Snelling and minister Malinauskas deliberately misleading the people of South Australia, telling them that the hospital was fine, 'Just take a chill pill. It's wonderful.' The way they talked about it you would think it was a five-star international hotel. Yet, in spite of that, the people of South Australia, for months, were suffering under service problems at the Royal Adelaide and they were continually denied by both ministers. What this report shows is that not only did it fail to meet the test of public confidence, it failed to meet the basic requirements of hospital accreditation.

Let me put it in context. I understand there had been some recalibration of accreditation standards in recent years so it may not be directly comparable, but the most recent accreditation annual report from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, if my memory serves me correctly, only had one hospital that was subject to core standards not being met and that hospital, again if I recall correctly, had four standards not met. Here we have a hospital that had just been built for $2.4 billion and it did not meet seven standards. This was a significant failure to deliver an effectively functioning hospital. We are working with SA Health to try to put in place the processes which will ensure that the accreditation is successfully achieved.

I am amazed that the Labor Party wants continually to remind this council of their appalling management in health. The new Royal Adelaide Hospital is a classic example: a $2.4 billion hospital, delivered 18 months late. We now know that it is now $776 million above its original budget, and they want to keep reminding us?