Modbury Hospital

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Leader of the Opposition) (14:32): Further supplementary arising from the original answer: has the minister received any further advice, in addition to his incoming government briefs, that made it very clear to him that clinical safety may not be achieved with the establishment of a stand-alone high dependency unit?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:32): The fact of the matter is that I continue to have discussions. I think I have already told the house that within a month—I suspect it was within two or three weeks of being re-elected to this place and appointed a minister—I was sitting in Modbury Hospital, talking to local MPs, three of whom were elected because they supported the restoration of services to Modbury Hospital. I was sitting with a number of people who are, shall we say, strongly associated with the former government's Transforming Health agenda and, to be frank, a number of clinicians who are vehemently opposed.

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Point of order, sir. The point of order is one of relevance. The honourable minister was asked a direct question about what was to his knowledge and now he is going on a rant.

The PRESIDENT: I appreciate the point of order. I am giving the minister some latitude.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Just for your clarification, Mr President: I took the reference to briefing very broadly. I take verbal briefings and, in this context, I am including verbal briefings. What I am talking about is a discussion with a range of clinicians who had a range of views. The former government knew what it was to have a range of clinical opinions and to choose one over another because that's exactly what it did in relation to The QEH cardiac services.

The government went for three or four years on the basis of one set of clinical advice. Professor Dorothy Keefe, for example, said it was a no-brainer to do what the Labor government was doing. Then, in the middle of last year—I think it was 17 June, certainly in the middle of last year—the former premier, the member for Cheltenham, announced that Transforming Health was dead and the government was not going to act on the basis of the clinical advice of Dorothy Keefe and others.

The former minister made it quite clear that it was a political decision, so I hardly think it is appropriate or credible for the Labor Party to come in here and start preaching about the sanctity of clinical advice. What I would say is that we have never said—never said—that we would open a high dependency unit on 18 March 2018. What we have said is that we have a pathway towards strengthening services at the Modbury Hospital, and in the context of strengthening the services at Modbury Hospital we will establish a high dependency unit.