Health Services

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:01): I have a supplementary question: will the minister guarantee that some of the services that were transferred out to the local hospital will be brought back to the Repat?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:02): Was that a supplementary question?

The PRESIDENT: I think it was a supplementary but it repeats—

The Hon. S.G. WADE: I'm sorry, I thought the Hon. Mark Parnell's question was about planning.

The PRESIDENT: Yes. That was a supplementary. The Hon. Tung Ngo is off your original—

Members interjecting:

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Planning is not services but let me give you an example straightaway: hydrotherapy pool. From 28 May, less than two weeks away, the South Australian government will return hydrotherapy pool services to the Repat site. I can just feel the warmth flowing over from the Hon. Michelle Lensink, a former physiotherapist from that site—she knows the value of hydrotherapy pool services.

The former Labor government didn't understand health. They thought you could transform health by shuffling services between hospitals, closing down three and downgrading three emergency departments. That's not how you transform health. You transform health by linking up all the services, all the partnerships, from the GP right through to palliative care, to make sure that services work together to support people to stay healthy.

We will not be able to cope with an ageing population if we do not empower people to stay healthy and, when they do become unwell, to avoid hospitalisation. That is one of the fundamental purposes of hydrotherapy pools. Apparently, the former Labor government thought that hydrotherapy pools mattered so little to health that they could close not just the Repat pool but also the pool at Flinders Medical Centre.

They kept that very quiet. People thought, 'Oh, no, that's fine; we're closing the Repat pool and we're building a new one up the hill at FMC.' But, no, by stealth they were closing two pools. What was the response from the former Labor government when it was challenged on that? 'Our priority is our inpatients.' I'm sorry, our priority should be South Australians keeping healthy. We shouldn't wait until they get into hospital before we start caring about them.

I assure you that this government, the Marshall Liberal government, has a strong focus on preventative health—not just primary preventative health but also targeted preventative health, health that talks about keeping people out of hospital when they are at risk of a chronic condition worsening. So, I thank the honourable member for the question, and the example of services that will be returning to the Repat site as a result of our moves is the hydrotherapy pool.

The PRESIDENT: I am not going to allow another supplementary on that issue, because I am anxious to get to the crossbench.