SA Pathology

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding public health. Can the minister guarantee that in addition to no longer privatising SA Pathology the government will not proceed with the remaining budget cut targets for the agency, and can he also guarantee that there will be no further job losses at SA Pathology?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:41): I can guarantee that this government is committed to delivering high-quality pathology services in a value for money way. That means that we will continue to invest in SA Pathology in terms of both its staff and its facilities, but we will also continue to expect it to deliver on budget efficiencies.

I think it is a bit courageous, if I can put it this way, for the honourable member to stand up and ask that question, because let's compare the record of our government, this government, and the government that the member was previously a member of or, shall we say, related to, the former Labor government.

The Ernst and Young report in, I think, about 2014 recommended significant reforms in SA Pathology, including significant financial savings. My recollection was that the savings forecast by the former Labor government were over three hundred. Four years later, there was a complete failure to deliver on reform. Not only that, the former Labor government let SA Pathology finish that term of government in absolute chaos. EPLIS, another IT failure by the former Labor government, was wreaking havoc on the working conditions of SA Pathology staff. Not only was it inefficient, it put a huge amount of stress on SA Pathology staff, medical scientists and pathologists.

This government came in under the leadership of—my memory might be failing me—I think it was Dr Tom Stubbs, who led a task force to stabilise the EPLIS project, a recovery plan that was successful. We are continuing the same work in relation to EPAS, now taken over by Sunrise. In relation to the other contrast, the contrast between the Ernst and Young report of Labor, in which they failed to save a cent, and the achievements of this government, we instituted a PricewaterhouseCoopers review, which identified a whole range of reform opportunities.

SA Pathology developed a reform package that drew both on that report and on the work of its own leadership team. We put in place a world-class pair of leaders, Mark McNamara, the business lead, and Dr Tom Dodd, the clinical lead. Under their stewardship over the last year, SA Pathology has not only delivered on the financial targets it was required to deliver on, it has actually gone above and beyond in terms of quality of service.

In relation to service outcomes, SA Pathology, for example, has not only either maintained or improved its services but on-time delivery for time-critical diagnostics has actually risen from 66 per cent to 90 per cent, while turnaround times for non time-critical diagnostics improved by 18 per  cent. At the same time, SA Pathology delivered savings to the taxpayer of around $15 million. So this government is not going to apologise for building a bigger, better SA Pathology service which is costing the taxpayers less and providing better services to customers.