Royal Adelaide Hospital

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (14:46): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing about the new RAH.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: I note a media report today stating that:

SA Health is sweating on a report from federal officials which will determine whether the $2.4 billion Royal Adelaide Hospital is accredited to operate—but they say even if accreditation is not given they will continue to run the hospital as normal.

Members will remember, it follows an inspection earlier this year in the lead-up to the state election in which the hospital failed in 24 areas, including seven core areas critical to safety, which in some cases was creating risks to patient safety. The hospital was given 90 days to fix the problems, which I believe expired earlier this month. SA Health is now awaiting the results of a second inspection, due by the end of the month.

My question to the minister is: has SA Health or your office received any notification from federal officials on the second inspection? If so, what is contained in that notification letter, including whether the new RAH passed the test this time around? Regardless, as the full force of winter looms, does the minister continue to have concerns about the hospital's capacity to function after previously saying it may be unable to function if it does not receive accreditation?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:48): I thank the honourable member for his question. In terms of the accreditation, which as honourable members would know is issued under the National Safety and Quality Health Service standards and the National Standards for Mental Health Services and by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, senior clinical and executive staff developed an action plan to address the seven core actions that were not met in the earlier visit.

Accreditation surveyors again visited on 30 and 31 May 2018 to undertake a reassessment. My advice was that the verbal debrief after the assessors' inspection did not raise concerns in relation to reassessment, but we do respect the fact that the assessors need to go back and prepare their report and we await that report. As the honourable member said, the report is expected at the end of June 2018 and that is also my latest advice.