Hospital Beds

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:50): A supplementary, and also possibly a clarification point. I am sure that was an answer, but it was not an answer to my question. My question was: will the minister now confirm whether or not he has met with the chief executive of his department, and what action has the Department for Health taken to ensure these types of atrocities never happen again in our hospitals as a result of any decision to close hospital beds?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:50): I fail to see the availability of hospital beds as an issue in this case. My understanding is that Mr Murphy was seen and that he actually had a bed in the extended emergency care unit. My understanding is that the issue was whether or not an MRI scan was available. The advice I am given is that there were no clinical indicators for an urgent MRI scan to occur and that Mr Murphy was asked for his GP to arrange for an outpatient MRI.

In terms of the honourable member's point about whether I have discussed it with the chief executive of the department, again, Labor doesn't understand board governance. The chief executive of the Department for Health does not run the Flinders Medical Centre. If I wanted to sit down with a chief executive to talk about this I would talk to Sue O'Neill, the chief executive of the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network.