Flinders Medical Centre Birthing Unit

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (14:27): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding the Flinders birthing unit.

Leave granted.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: The minister and the shadow minister were yesterday emailed by a grandfather in the southern suburbs concerned for his daughter's treatment following a caesarean section at the Flinders Medical Centre. The caesarean was completed at 10.50am yesterday; however, a bed was not made available until 6pm, some seven hours later. This comes just one week after the closure of Flinders Private Hospital's obstetrics services, which doctors in the area said was likely to put undue pressure on public hospital maternity services.

As at 5pm yesterday, the SA Health inpatient dashboard showed that there were 52 obstetric patients at Flinders for just 50 beds. My question to the minister is: what action did the minister take following the receipt of the concerning email about the shortage of obstetric beds and a seven-hour delay for this woman following her operation?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:28): The email that the honourable member refers to hasn't been brought to my attention. I am happy to seek further information and provide advice.