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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-02-18 Daily Xml
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PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE: GP PLUS HEALTH CARE CENTRE—ELIZABETH

Ms CICCARELLO (Norwood) (11:48): I move:

That the 311th report of the committee, entitled GP Plus Health Care Centre—Elizabeth, be noted.

GP Plus health care centres are intended to build on the strengths of general practice by working in partnership with other providers, including Aboriginal community controlled services, other agencies, local government and the non-government sector. The centres provide a way to deliver primary health care services to people as close to their home as possible. There will be about 10 centres in the Adelaide metropolitan area with about one centre per 100,000 people.

The model being proposed for Elizabeth will provide comprehensive accessible primary health care services based on a patient and family centred approach. It will provide a broad range of services that encompass health promotion, disease prevention, community development, early intervention, diagnostics and outpatient services providing integrated and coordinated support for GPs serving the community.

The capital cost of this project is $8 million and it comprises the long-term lease of a purpose-built facility from Colonial First State Property Management and capital expenditure for the fit-out and equipping of the facility. The centre will be made up of clinical services across the continuum of care: GP services, diagnostic services, dental services (including treatment and student training), screening-type services (including Breast Screen SA), facilities that provide ambulatory care, early intervention support and health information and promotion for families and children, clinic group services with a focus on the needs of people with chronic diseases and drop-in services tailored to the priority needs of young people.

GP Plus Health Care Centres are expected to achieve: increased equity of access to health services, decreased numbers of patients requiring referral to hospital, increased availability of minor injury services, delivery of services closer to home, increased use of self-management programs, increased early detection of health status risk factors, early intervention in the management of risk factors affecting the health of an individual, and improved management of chronic conditions. The main catchment areas will be the Salisbury and Playford local government areas.

Information provided through the Central Northern Adelaide Health Service's Social Health Atlas has identified these areas as having Adelaide's highest projected population growth, a higher proportion of families with children under 15 years headed by a sole parent, a higher unemployment rate, a relatively higher proportion of health care cardholders and pensioners, a younger age structure, a higher proportion of dwellings with no motor vehicles, a much higher proportion of rented dwellings publicly rented from SA Housing, a relatively high number of substantiated cases of child abuse neglect, a higher incidence of premature and avoidable mortality than other communities, and a significant concentration of culturally distinct groups with distinct health needs.

Potential sites available in the Elizabeth area were investigated by the Land Management Corporation to ascertain whether there is an alternative viable land parcel in which a facility could be located. However, no suitable alternative location within Elizabeth City Centre environs has been identified.

Discussions have taken place over a number of years with Colonial First State Property Management (the owners of the Elizabeth Shopping Centre) regarding the development of a primary health care centre at Elizabeth on this site. Colonial First State Property Management presented a proposal to design and construct a GP Plus Health Care Centre—Elizabeth on land owned by them at the Elizabeth City Centre. The proposal provided for a lease option back to the government over a number of initial terms: 10, 15 and 20 years. A full financial analysis of these options concluded that the best outcome will be achieved by entering into a 20 year lease arrangement.

The initial annual rental is $1.97 million per annum, with an annual CPI increase. An additional facilities management fee of $370,000 per annum, with an increase of CPI plus 1 per cent, has been negotiated. This covers repairs and maintenance, and an annual maintenance replacement program will be negotiated for delivery by the owner.

The project is expected to be completed by July 2010. Upon completion, the GP Plus Health Care Centre—Elizabeth is expected to assist in the early identification of risk factors affecting the immediate and long-term health of individuals and the management of patients with chronic and complex conditions through the provision of care coordination, and it will assist with linking the acute and primary health care providers to provide a more balanced health system and services to individuals. The centre will also respond to specific health needs affecting the local population, particularly those most in need, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The centre will also provide a community resource for self management and other health and well-being activities and increase teaching, training and educational opportunities for health professionals. Based upon the evidence it has considered, and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee reports to parliament that it recommends the proposed public work.

The Hon. P.L. WHITE (Taylor) (11:54): I am pleased to support this motion. I commend the government, the health department and agency staff who have worked on this proposal and the board of directors of the relevant health service for their foresight in this primary care initiative, which I believe will make a big difference, certainly to my electorate. Parts of Elizabeth are in my electorate and this GP Plus clinic will be located at the Elizabeth Shopping Centre—a very central location.

As the member for Norwood advised, the Social Health Atlas studies show that there is a great need for these sort of services. The government has given a clear commitment to primary health care services through its policies. The 10 such centres that will be established—and the Elizabeth centre is a large $8 million centre—will bring these primary services closer to people and their homes and provide a very patient focused and family centred approach to health care. It will be completed by July 2010 and it will make a big difference to my constituents.

Social Health Atlas of South Australia showed that the Elizabeth region, when compared to other areas in the metropolitan population, had the highest population growth projections; the highest proportion of families with children under 15, headed by a sole parent; a younger age structure; a higher unemployment rate; a relatively high proportion of health care cardholders and pensioners; a high proportion of dwellings where there is no motor vehicle at hand; a higher proportion of Housing Trust dwellings; and a higher incidence of premature and avoidable mortality than other communities. On all criteria, you would have to say that this is a well-placed GP Plus clinic.

The services that will be provided include adult and paediatric outpatient clinics; minor types of surgery; GP services; diagnostic services (minor radiology and those sorts of things); dental services; screening services like BreastScreen SA; ambulatory care; early intervention care; and health information clinics and group services. This centre will bring a range of different health services together for better patient care generally.

I am thrilled that this is going ahead. Before the current state and federal Labor governments took office, we did not have this concept focus in our health policy. I think it is a very good step forward that will make a huge difference to my constituency. I commend the project to the house.

Mr PISONI (Unley) (11:57): Obviously, the opposition is aware of the struggle that the government is having with the health system here in South Australia at the moment. The member for Bragg (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) has been diligent in keeping an eye on what is happening and developing alternative policies for health in the lead-up to the next election.

What we saw in this submission to the Public Works Committee was, in fact, another example of more spin than substance. Sure, it is a grand new facility for the area which is much needed, but it is basically a private facility. This is quite extraordinary coming from a government that led an election campaign boasting that it was against privatisation. Of course, in recent comments from the Prime Minister in his 8,000 word essay in The Monthly—

Mr Pengilly: The rantings of Rudd.

Mr PISONI: The rantings of Rudd, as the member for Finniss has appropriately named it. Of course, we have also heard the rantings of the Premier about the private sector and private enterprise. It is extraordinary that, having control of the Treasury benches, the government has decided that the best way to deliver this necessary service is through the private sector.

In the committee hearing, I asked some questions of the public servants who presented this submission. Basically, they said that it was a great business plan and that they have never seen such a good facility and plan as this. However, when I asked for details such as whether they would be bulk billing, that answer was not forthcoming. They could not answer that question.

There is a lot of manufacturing in that area and statistics will tell you that, in Salisbury and Elizabeth (where I grew up), a high number of people use WorkCover's facilities and the health and medical requirements that are provided for by those facilities. When I asked them whether they would be providing services for WorkCover, again, the answer was, 'I don't know whether WorkCover services will be offered at this facility.' So, there we have a situation where it was a great business plan but they did not have any answers to some simple questions.

Debate adjourned.

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