Legislative Council Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1) 54 1 Parliament of South Australia Legislative Council published Question Time Country Hospitals Country Hospitals The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN Legislative Council Country Hospitals The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Can the minister advise whether he has opened up any extra beds at country hospitals, and if so, which country hospitals have had extra beds and how many beds at each hospital, or has the minister simply transferred patients from metropolitan hospitals to beds that were already open? The Hon. S.G. WADE Legislative Council Minister for Health and Wellbeing Country Hospitals The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:43): The government, in response to pressure in the system, has opened 30 country hospital beds, 20 private hospital beds and has identified 11 vacant community mental health beds. The beds in the country hospitals are obviously beds that were there in the sense that the country hospitals are well established, but the country hospitals have been resourced to accommodate the 30 additional country hospital beds and 60 patients have been transferred. In terms of the hospitals, more than half of those 60 are in four hospitals: Mount Barker, Gawler, Strathalbyn and Murray Bridge, and we are continuing to place patients in those country hospitals to ease pressure on the metropolitan hospitals.