Not-For-Profit Hospitals

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (16:10): I move:

That this council—

1. Notes that not-for-profit hospitals such as Burnside Hospital, Glenelg Community Hospital, North Eastern Community Hospital and the Stirling Hospital play a pivotal role in providing health care for local communities.

2. Recognises that these hospitals partner with local health networks to deliver critical services, playing an important role in reducing the patient load burden on public hospitals.

3. Notes that the new national standards introduced by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, in particular standard AS4187 (now AS5369):

(a) imposes tighter minimum requirements for health service organisations’ compliance with reprocessing of reusable medical devices in health service organisations; and

(b) will necessitate major multimillion-dollar infrastructure upgrades at some health service organisations to remain compliant.

4. Calls on the Malinauskas government to make available no-interest loans to community hospitals to allow them to undertake the necessary infrastructure upgrades to remain operational.

On 14 December 2023, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care introduced new standards aimed at better protecting patients undergoing surgery. The commission was tasked with reviewing licensing standards around hospitals, day procedure centres and clinics where cosmetic procedures were being performed. This followed a joint investigation between Four Corners and Nine newspapers, which found that doctors without specialist qualifications were operating on patients in privately funded facilities with serious hygiene and safety breaches.

The Greens, of course, welcome the more stringent standards that have been put in place; it is appropriate that that occur. But this does mean that many not-for-profit community hospitals will need to undertake extensive infrastructure upgrades in order to meet these standards, and that is going to put a significant cost burden on those hospitals.

The Glenelg Community Hospital, for instance, I understand requires $8 million to upgrade their sterilisation department to meet these new requirements. I understand that the Stirling Hospital would require in excess of $50 million to undertake major infrastructure upgrades, including resizing operating theatres and replacing the building's water filtration system. Their most pressing challenge is upgrading the ventilation system in their theatre and procedure rooms, which is estimated to cost half a million dollars.

As not-for-profit community hospitals, any surpluses made by these hospitals are automatically reinvested back into the hospital infrastructure, the equipment and staff, so these major infrastructure upgrades are beyond their normal annual expenditure, and they do not have the capital reserves required to provide for these infrastructure upgrades.

The private health sector in South Australia is facing increased pressure. It is not my role to advocate for the private health system, but what we are talking about here is a community hospital that provides a very important community service. The closure of local hospitals at a community level has put increased strain on the public system. Indeed, over the last decade rising costs for consumables, wages and services have compounded the challenges that these small hospitals face. Furthermore, revenue from health insurance has not kept pace with the true cost of care delivery.

Despite these challenges not-for-profit community hospitals play an important role in not only providing health care delivery to their respective communities but also in reducing the patient loan burden. I understand, for instance, that the Stirling Hospital partners with the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network to deliver critical services such as ear, nose and throat care, and this is a really important partnership.

I also note that in the last financial year, ending June 2024, the Stirling Hospital had a total of 4,212 patient admissions, including 3,315 day surgeries and 595 overnight stays. The Glenelg Community Hospital in the same period treated over 7,000 patients and works with SA Health on waiting list initiatives and care for special needs children for dental surgery.

These are hospitals that provide a vital community service, particularly, might I say, the hospital in Stirling. It operates in an area where there are not local hospitals. It is a critical service for that community, and its future hangs in the balance as a result of this new regulatory regime. The Greens are calling on the Malinauskas Labor government to make interest-free loans available to these not-for-profit hospitals so that they can undertake the necessary upgrades so that they can do the work that is required so that they can remain operational.

We are not saying 'give private hospitals a blank cheque'; we are talking about only three small community hospitals. This is a bespoke solution for those community not-for-profit hospitals so that they can remain operational. It would be easy for the government to make an interest-free loan available and to work with those hospitals to develop a repayment plan down the track, and so I do urge the government to consider this as an option.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.