Aged-Care CCTV Trial

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (14:41): My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. In regard to the tender awarded to Sturdie for the CCTV camera trial in two state-run aged-care facilities, can the minister tell us if this company is able to deliver a 24/7 live monitoring system comparable to or better than that offered by the world's best practice leaders in this field, Care Protect, who pulled out of the initial contract last year, citing conflicts of interest within SA Health, and which stores all footage off site in a secure and protected web-based setting and is monitored 24/7 by an independent team of highly experienced and qualified clinical experts; and what is the cost for this pilot in the two facilities?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:42): I thank the honourable member for his question. It won't surprise the honourable member that I am going to reiterate what I said yesterday: that is, that this particular pilot was subject to an open tender process. It is not appropriate to reprosecute that procurement process by reference to an alternative commercial provider who did not put a proposal in to the tender.

If the honourable member is saying that he is not willing to support a pilot where he believes personally that there is a better provider available, I would say to him that he has to ask himself what is he promoting. Is he saying that he does not support the only and the first Australian trial of CCTV in aged-care facilities? Is he not supporting an opportunity to test the value and acceptability of audiovisual recording amongst residents and their families, to look at the technology which can cost-effectively reduce adverse events?

The honourable member might think that a better pilot was possible, but the better pilot was not possible if the party that he is advocating for did not put in a bid. In that context, I would urge the honourable member to support this pilot. Of course, it may raise further issues. It will be another step along the road, but I think it's an important step along the road and for those of us—and I put the honourable member in this category—who are determined to deal with elder abuse and improve the quality of care in aged-care facilities, I would urge all of those people to get behind this pilot. Let's make progress.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Pangallo, you have a supplementary?