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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-06-17 Daily Xml
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PUBLIC HOSPITALS, FOOD SERVICES

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:57): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will speak nice and quietly for the Treasurer's benefit. My question is again to the Minister for Health. Has the minister introduced any change in procedures for the provision of food in public hospitals as a result of receiving the Food Services in Public Hospitals report, and will the minister now release that report?

The government has paid the Food and Beverage Institute $81,529 to prepare a strategic review of the food services within public hospitals. The report has been refused, pursuant to a freedom of information application, on the basis that it might 'lead to confusion and unnecessary debate' and, further, 'it may create mischief'. Last week, an outbreak of salmonella at an Adelaide Hills aged care facility claimed the lives of two residents.

An honourable member interjecting:

Ms CHAPMAN: No; you have your health people up there, or don't you know?

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Ms CHAPMAN: And 17 others have contracted the salmonella.

The Hon. J.D. HILL (Kaurna—Minister for Health, Minister for the Southern Suburbs, Minister Assisting the Premier in the Arts) (14:58): Well, that's not only tricky, Vickie; it's icky, Vickie. They are two separate and distinct processes which have no relationship to each other whatsoever, but the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, in her usual style, combines them together to make a full set of presumptions which produce—

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: So why would you believe she'd do mischief?

The Hon. J.D. HILL: Yes, why would you believe she'd do mischief? Let me go through the two issues. First, in relation to the deaths associated with the salmonella outbreak at the aged care facility at Hahndorf, I, on behalf of the government, express my sympathy to the families of those who have lost relatives. It is a tragic set of circumstances.

The health department is assisting the aged care facility. We do not actually run that facility. We do not own it and we do not provide services to it. We do not provide the food to it. We come in when assistance is required. I understand that the local council inspected the facility, or somehow or other brought it to our attention, and we attended. We are assisting that aged care facility to ensure that it goes through the strict protocols that are required to provide food to vulnerable people. What it has to do with the public hospitals system, of course, is nothing at all, because the public hospital system—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.D. HILL: —has nothing to do with that aged care facility. We do provide food to people in our public hospitals. The food provided in public hospitals is provided through a range of processes. Different hospitals have different arrangements, and we are looking at how we can better provide food across all of our hospitals. But that has nothing whatsoever to do with the outbreak of salmonella at the aged care facility. We have not made any changes, as I understand it. There may have been some changes that I am not aware of in the way that food is provided to our hospitals. Certainly, there have been no major changes and we are working through how we can better provide food to our hospitals.

There is a whole range of factors, of course, in the provision of food in hospitals—safety being the paramount concern—to ensure that the food is provided to people in a safe way. The second, of course, is nutrition. The third issue relates to cost effectiveness, and the fourth is, no doubt, about comfort, because when people are in hospital they want to be comforted. Trying to balance all those things—nutrition versus comfort—is always a difficult matter. We are working through this, about how we can better provide food which is nutritious, safe and comforting to patients in our hospitals.

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