Public Hospitals

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:30): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing about age discrimination, language barriers and COVID bed plans in our hospital system.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: I have been contacted by a constituent whose grandfather aged 80 has been in the RAH for the past four weeks after a medical episode. The man doesn't speak or understand English, so he has no ability to communicate with clinicians treating him, unless a family member is present to translate. That can be difficult when only one visitor is allowed. The family says that, as a result, he has missed out on some treatments.

The frail octogenarian was also left unattended in a chair by his bed. The family requested he be observed so he didn't fall. He did fall when nobody was present and of course there were communication problems and he was unable to tell staff whether he had been hurt. His family then had to demand X-rays be done when he complained about a sore leg and back.

A RAH doctor has apparently clinically assessed the old man to be discharged. How this could be done without the patient being able to express himself to the doctor is bewildering, yet the family is now being placed under enormous pressure by staff to get him out and into an aged-care provider. Finding one that is suitable and where language isn't a barrier is proving extremely difficult. To compound their distress, the RAH has now flagged it will soon charge the pensioner $66 a day until he is moved. My questions to the minister are:

1. Why are clinicians putting pressure on elderly patients to be discharged and is this part of SA Health's strategy to free up the number of beds occupied by senior citizens that will be required should there be a wave of COVID cases in coming weeks?

2. Why are patients, particularly elderly pensioners, being threatened with additional charges if they remain in hospital after being there a period of time?

3. Does SA Health provide translation services in the public hospital system?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:33): There were a number of issues raised there and if I could briefly touch on each of them. I certainly would be concerned if visitor limits in a facility meant that a support that a patient needed was not able to be provided to them. There is flexibility in visitor limits. There is a statewide policy or guideline, but local hospitals are able to determine their own local rules in accordance with their own local circumstances. Certainly, the expectation would be that our facilities would be flexible to the particular needs of each person who is in their care.

In relation to the issue of the discharge of a person to a residential aged-care facility, let me make it clear: there has been no recent policy change that I'm aware of in relation to charging for people awaiting placement in a residential aged-care facility. It has been a well-established practice under governments for a number of years—I would be surprised if it's not a number of decades.

One of the issues that our health system has faced is that, whilst we want to support a family to make the next step from hospital care to a residential aged-care facility, and if they don't already have an established place in a residential aged-care facility, it does often take time to find a suitable location.

It has been a consistent view of SA Health that there comes a point where a patient in hospital who is awaiting an aged-care place—and my understanding is it's based on both length of time and the number of residential aged-care placements that have been made available—a charge may be levied. Certainly, SA Health is very keen to work with patients awaiting discharge who need support beyond the hospital and that might be through the National Disability Insurance Scheme or it might be through the commonwealth aged-care arrangements. It is in our mutual interests to facilitate an appropriate discharge. No patient wants to stay in hospital a day longer than they need to and also the hospital itself needs to free up beds for incoming patients. That has always been the case; it is the case today.

In terms of the translation services, in relation to the honourable member's direct question, yes, SA Health does provide access to translation services and, in relation to the particular case, if the honourable member would like to provide me or my office with the details we are happy to look into them. It is certainly SA Health's mission to support people to receive health care and that includes involving them in their own care and their family and where that involves communication issues we certainly provide translation services.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Mr Pangallo has a supplementary.