Modbury Hospital

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (15:04): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing.

Leave granted.

The Hon. K.J. MAHER: In question time last week, the minister didn't know who he would be taking advice from in relation to the establishment of a stand-alone high dependency unit at Modbury Hospital. The minister, who couldn't name a single practising specialist who supports a stand-alone HDU at Modbury, named Warren Jones as the only person he could think of who supports him on this issue, said he would ignore the advice of his department on this issue, said he would act against the advice of the Australian Medical Association on this issue and claimed in parliament—where one can mislead if they are not telling the truth—not to know the views of the College of Intensive Care Medicine on this subject.

Will the minister give a personal undertaking to this chamber that no patient will have their safety compromised by his policy of locating a stand-alone high dependency unit at Modbury Hospital without a co-located intensive care unit?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:05): I thank the honourable member for his question. I assure the house that I will continue to give priority to patient safety. The fact of the matter is that the former Labor government at Modbury has severely undermined patient safety—severely undermined patient safety. What they have done is they have downgraded the emergency department.

The Hon. K.J. Maher: What does your department say about it?

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Maher, you have ample opportunity to ask questions in question time. Let the minister answer in silence; he is on his feet.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Thank you, Mr President. The former Labor government undermined patient safety by downgrading the emergency department. In spite of the growing community in the north-east, they downgraded the emergency department, which meant that, if you had a life-threatening condition, you had to go to Lyell McEwin or the RAH, depending on where you were based.

The former Labor government undermined patient safety by downgrading the acute services on that site, leading to, I think, on average, 10 patient transfers a day. In other words, people who could previously have got their services at Modbury Hospital now need to get them at Lyell McEwin or some other hospital. You can talk to any clinician and they will tell you—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Name one. Go on. A practising clinician.

The PRESIDENT: You have had your opportunity to ask the question, Leader of the Opposition. Let the minister answer.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Any clinician—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Name one practising clinician. Forty-eight said no; name one. Go on, name them.

The PRESIDENT: You have asked that question and he has answered it.

The Hon. T.J. Stephens: We are not going to name people. You people are vindictive. All you will do is just try to destroy them.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Stephens, let the minister speak. Thank you, minister.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Any clinician will tell you that the process of transferring a patient by—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Minister, please. It is an important issue.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: A third attempt at this one. Any clinician will tell you that the transfer of a patient from one acute site to another acute site by ambulance, or by any form of transport, is a high-risk activity. In other words, if you can deliver the acute care at the first site, you reduce risks. Yet, not only did this former Labor government downgrade the emergency department at Modbury Hospital, meaning that people with life-threatening conditions had to go elsewhere, they also reduced the medical support within the hospital, such that people who were deteriorating or people who had emergency requirements needed to be transferred. They actually, if you like, established an ambulance taxi, in other words, a dedicated shuttle ambulance that was there to transfer Modbury patients who could no longer be cared for at the acute hospital.

The Leader of the Opposition can talk about patient safety. I would say to the Leader of the Opposition: where was he in the last Labor government when he should have been standing up for the people of the north-east? Instead, he undermined patient safety by being part of a bizarre plan to downgrade three emergency departments around metropolitan Adelaide and close three hospitals.