<!--The Official Report of Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia are covered by parliamentary privilege. Republication by others is not afforded the same protection and may result in exposure to legal liability if the material is defamatory. You may copy and make use of excerpts of proceedings where (1) you attribute the Parliament as the source, (2) you assume the risk of liability if the manner of your use is defamatory, (3) you do not use the material for the purpose of advertising, satire or ridicule, or to misrepresent members of Parliament, and (4) your use of the extracts is fair, accurate and not misleading. Copyright in the Official Report of Parliamentary Debates is held by the Attorney-General of South Australia.-->
<hansard id="" tocId="" xml:lang="EN-AU" schemaVersion="4.0" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="hansard_1_0.xsd" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2007/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
  <name>Legislative Council</name>
  <date date="2025-11-11T14:15:00+10:30" />
  <sessionName>Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)</sessionName>
  <parliamentNum>55</parliamentNum>
  <sessionNum>1</sessionNum>
  <parliamentName>Parliament of South Australia</parliamentName>
  <house>Legislative Council</house>
  <venue></venue>
  <reviewStage>published</reviewStage>
  <startPage num="10101" />
  <endPage num="10162" />
  <dateModified time="2025-11-12T15:18:54+10:30" />
  <proceeding continued="true" uid="8d96a837353a416a980f96794c90ae68">
    <name>Answers to Questions</name>
    <subject uid="6bd651cc41e34dc5bd1242e470629442">
      <name>Long COVID Clinics</name>
      <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0001014">
        <inserted>
          <heading>Long COVID Clinics</heading>
        </inserted>
      </text>
      <talker role="member" id="4362" referenceid="9196416ed01f41d0801ce030b03cd39a" uid="e6d0c80e22394fbc83596676b0da4fdc" kind="question">
        <name>The Hon. J.S. LEE</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <questions>
          <question date="2025-11-11T03:45:00+10:30">
            <name>Long COVID Clinics</name>
          </question>
        </questions>
        <startTime time="2025-11-12T00:00:00+10:30" />
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0001015">
          <inserted>
            <timeStamp time="2025-11-12T00:00:00+10:30" />In reply to <by role="member" id="4362" referenceid="9196416ed01f41d0801ce030b03cd39a" uid="e6d0c80e22394fbc83596676b0da4fdc">the Hon. J.S. LEE </by>().18 September 2025).  </inserted>
        </text>
      </talker>
      <talker role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010" uid="26b61826a7884453bf83368ee2bca61e" kind="answer">
        <name>The Hon. K.J. MAHER</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <portfolios>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Deputy Premier</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Aboriginal Affairs</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Deputy Premier</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Attorney-General</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector</name>
          </portfolio>
        </portfolios>
        <questions>
          <question date="2025-11-11T03:45:00+10:30">
            <name>Long COVID Clinics</name>
          </question>
        </questions>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0001016">
          <inserted>
            <by role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010" uid="26b61826a7884453bf83368ee2bca61e">The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Deputy Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State):</by>  The Minister for Health and Wellbeing has advised:</inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0001017">
          <inserted>The Royal Adelaide Hospital and Flinders Medical Centre's long COVID Clinics are funded by SA Health to provide multidisciplinary care to people living with persistent symptoms after COVID-19 infection. </inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0001018">
          <inserted>The clinics are funded from within operating budgets and support specialist doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals who work together to provide assessment, symptom management and ongoing monitoring and support for the most complex cases.</inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0001019">
          <inserted>The South Australian government has not undertaken any study of the impact of long COVID affecting employees of the public sector. However, the long COVID Clinics align their services with national guidelines and contribute to research efforts to ensure that care remains evidence-based and effective, contributing to local and national research to better understand long COVID and refine models of care.</inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0001020">
          <inserted>Long COVID services are delivered across primary care, community rehabilitation, and hospital outpatient settings. </inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0001021">
          <inserted>General practitioners (GPs) remain central to assessment and ongoing management in the community, supported by statewide clinical guidelines, referral pathways, and collaboration with specialists and allied health professionals. </inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0001022">
          <inserted>Patients can access allied health services such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychology, and dietetics through community providers, including via Medicare-subsidised GP care plans.</inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0001023">
          <inserted>Specialist Long COVID Assessment Clinics within the Central Adelaide and Southern Adelaide Local Health Networks provide multidisciplinary assessment and management for complex cases. These clinics support regional and remote patients through telehealth and direct liaison with local clinicians to facilitate care closer to home.</inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0001024">
          <inserted>Where face-to-face assessment is required, eligible patients may access financial assistance for travel and accommodation through the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme (PATS).</inserted>
        </text>
      </talker>
    </subject>
  </proceeding>
</hansard>